A Republican Europe of States
Cosmopolitanism, Intergovernmentalism and Democracy in the EU

Examines the democratic legitimacy of international organisations from a republican perspective, diagnoses the EU as suffering from a democratic disconnect and offers 'demoicracy' as the cure.

Richard Bellamy (Author)

9781107678125, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 31 January 2019

260 pages, 2 b/w illus.
22.7 x 15.1 x 1.4 cm, 0.38 kg

'Richard Bellamy is a political theorist who truly understands the constitutional strand in Europe's ontology. This gives added purchase to his challenging attempt to 're-understand' and rethink how to frame the ever-illusive European reality.' J. H. H. Weiler, New York University

Combining international political theory and EU studies, Richard Bellamy provides an original account of the democratic legitimacy of international organisations. He proposes a new interpretation of the EU's democratic failings and how they might be addressed. Drawing on the republican theory of freedom as non-domination, Bellamy proposes a way to combine national popular sovereignty with the pursuit of fair and equitable relations of non-domination among states and their citizens. Applying this approach to the EU, Bellamy shows that its democratic failings lie not with the democratic deficit at the EU level but with a democratic disconnect at the member state level. Rather than shifting democratic authority to the European Parliament, this book argues that the EU needs to reconnect with the different 'demoi' of the member states by empowering national parliaments in the EU policy-making process.

Introduction: democratic legitimacy and international institutions – republican intergovernmentalism, cosmopolitan statism, and the demoicratic reconnection of the EU
Part I. Cosmopolitanism, Statism and Republicanism: Democracy, Legitimacy and Sovereignty: 1. Cosmopolitism and statism: global interdependence and national self-determination
2. Justice, legitimacy and republicanism: non-domination and the global circumstances of legitimate politics
3. Sovereignty, republicanism and the democratic legitimacy of the EU
Part II. A Republican EU of Sovereign States: Republican Intergovernmentalism, Demoicracy and Non-Domination: 4. Representing the people's of Europe: addressing the demoicratic disconnect
5. Union citizenship – supra- and post-national, trans-national or inter-national?
6 Differentiated integration and the demoicratic constitution of the EU
Conclusion: the global trilemma, the future of the EU and Brexit.

Subject Areas: EU & European institutions [JPSN2], International institutions [JPSN], Central government policies [JPQB], Political structures: democracy [JPHV], Elections & referenda [JPHF], Conservatism & right-of-centre democratic ideologies [JPFM], Political science & theory [JPA]