EUROGOV
No. C-05-03
Peter Mair
Popular Democracy and the European Union Polity
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Published: May 18, 2005
Abstract
Although we still celebrate the late twentieth-century ‘victory
of democracy’, our understanding of what democracy entails
in both theory and practice is increasingly subject to a variety
of qualifying definitions, many of which now seem to devalue
the role of elections and electoral accountability. This is
also obviously seen in the politics of the European Union,
where the efforts to displace conflict dimensions into arenas
where democratic authority is lacking, as well as the efforts
to depoliticize issues that relate to European integration,
have led to the development of a distinct political system
in which the exercise of popular control and electoral accountability
proves very difficult. At the same time, the EU should not
be seen as exceptional in this regard, but should instead
be seen as symptomatic of a wider process of depoliticization.
As the experience of the EU suggests, the combination of popular
democracy and legitimacy is proving increasingly problematic
– not only in Europe, but also further afield.
Keywords:
constitutional change, democracy, Europeanization, governance,
legitimacy, non-majoritarian institutions, political parties,
political representation, polity building
Peter Mair
– Department of Political Science, Leiden University
e-mail:
mair@fsw.leidenuniv.nl
© 2005 Peter Mair
Citing this EUROGOV
paper:
Mair, Peter. 2005. Popular Democracy and the European Union
Polity. European Governance Papers (EUROGOV) No.
C-05-03,
http://www.connex-network.org/eurogov/pdf/egp-connex-C-05-03.pdf
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