Perspectives on the future of the EU
Several challenges stimulate the debate on the future of the EU: globalisation, security concerns, the rise of populism, the impact of new technologies, Brexit. An underlying question concerns the prospects for legitimacy and democracy. (2019)
In this volume, five leading European scholars go beyond policy issues to focus on the future of the EU as a political system. At the heart of their contributions are the prospects for legitimacy and democracy in the union:
- Christopher J. Bickerton takes a closer look at the fragmenting legitimacy in the European Union, pointing to a conflict between European integration and national democracy.
- Ulrike Guérot seeks the legitimacy in a universal, equal and direct right to vote for the whole of Europe and draws up a new republican utopia for Europe.
- Ivan Krastev discusses the current challenge in finding a way to criticize the authoritarian turn in the East – without insisting that imitating the West is the only true meaning of democracy.
- Almut Möller analyses the changing leadership in the EU, observing the return of the capitals.
- Frank Schimmelfennig examines whether differentiated integration is the way forward for European integration, identifying where it works best and where it is not the answer.
With these different and sometimes opposing perspectives, the aim is to shed light on where the European Union might – or should – be heading.
This anthology is jointly published by the Swedish Institute of International Affairs (UI) and the Swedish Institute for European Policy Studies (SIEPS). The authors originally presented their analyses in the winter of 2018/2019, in a series of lectures co-organized by the two institutes. The volume includes an introduction by the editors, Björn Fägersten, UI, and Göran von Sydow, SIEPS.