Representing Europeans : a pragmatic approach / Richard Rose.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rose, Richard, 1933-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

European Union.

European Parliament.

Representative government and representation--European Union countries.

Representative government and representation.

European Union countries.

Physical Description:

vi, 166 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2013.

Summary:

Representing Europeans makes a fresh assessment of the challenge facing the European Union today: it can no longer carry out integration by stealth. Measures adopted to save the eurozone impose visible political costs without clearly visible benefits. There is a lack of popular commitment to more European integration because EU institutions represent its citizens indirectly or not at all. Reliance on citizenship lite is politically dangerous, since people retain the power to reject their national government because of commitments it makes in Brussels. The book's pragmatic approach recommends that enhanced European integration should be based on coalitions of the willing and accommodation of the unwilling. Federalists and Eurosceptics will alternatively agree and disagree with the argument of this book. But they cannot ignore the challenge it raises for the EU to pay more attention to the half a billion people it claims to represent. Book jacket.

Contents:

I The Need for Popular Commitment 3

II A Bridge Too Far? 7

III Diagnosis and Prescription 11

IV Perspective of the Author 14

1 The EU System: Accountable Up to a Point 17

I What EU Institutions Represent 19

II Horizontal Accountability Without Vertical Trust 24

III Decisionmaking by Consensus 27

IV Explanation Is not Justification 30

2 Forging an Ever Closer Union 35

I The Forward March of Treaties 37

II The Depth and Breadth of Policies 43

III Do Europeans Want an Ever Closer Union? 48

3 A Union of Diverse Peoples 52

I Enlargement Across a Continent 54

II Differentiating Member States 58

III Mass Reactions to Europeanization 61

4 Citizenship Lite 68

I National Governments Pulled Two Ways 69

II Consultation with Organized Interests 74

III Reaching Below Member States 78

IV Constituting an Ever Closer Union? 81

5 Referendums-Too Much Participation? 84

I Circumventing Europe's Citizens 87

II The Reality of Risk: Dozens of EU Referendums 90

III Who Wants a Referendum? 94

6 Unequal Representation in the European Parliament 98

I From Fig Leaf to Participant in EU Decisionmaking 99

II Turning Proportional Representation Upside Down 102

III Asymmetrical Representation 107

7 European Parties: Integration Before Representation 114

I Aggregation in Multi-National Party Groups 115

II Differentiating Party Policies 118

III What Party Groups Represent 119

IV Consensus Supplants Representation 123

8 Interdependence: How Policy Changes Politics 128

I Interdependence without Consensus 131

II The Globalization of Europe 137

9 The Future of Europe: An Ever Looser Union? 142

I Limits to Capacity 143

II Co-operation without Unanimity 149

III Bringing in Europe's Citizens 153.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

019965476X

9780199654765

OCLC:

844440268