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This book shows how the EU's dual sovereignty–legitimacy problem can be resolved through the political concept of European citizenship, which can serve both to define the scope of European sovereignty and to justify EU power beyond national democracy.It reconceptualizes the EU's legitimacy problem and demonstrates how sources of legitimacy can be identified and give rise to European sovereignty. It argues that sovereignty should be based on the will of citizens acting through various political bodies within the EU—city halls, regional entities, national governments, and EU institutions—and develops a general theory, arguably applicable to any political order. The EU is an unprecedented political project that is in tension with traditional forms of state legitimation based on national democracy, as nationalists and populists throughout Europe often make clear. Against this backdrop, the book fully articulates the notion of European sovereignty and argues that the EU's sources of legitimacy are based on European citizenship and national democracy. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of EU politics, European integration, international institutions, and international relations.

Is the European Union still a viable project? The last few years have been difficult both economically and politically, while its integrative function and legitimacy have been seriously tested. For many social, economic and geo-political reasons, its expansionary moment has stopped abruptly. On the contrary, the Greek economic crisis and the Brexit referendum have raised the spectre of fragmentation and political disintegration. The promise of the EU as a possible model for legitimate governance beyond the nation state lies somewhat in tatters. Even if the EU may indeed survive most of its current crises, is the project of a EU as a normative project beyond rescue? Ever since Maastricht, the democratic legitimacy of the EU has been a key concern of policy makers, citizens and academics alike. This issue is essentially a normative one, and over the same period our work in this area has been at the forefront in exploring what has come to be known (following an early working paper we wrote with this title in 2000) ‘the normative turn in EU studies'.The debate on the democratic form and legitimacy of the EU is one that has gone on for some time and to which we, together with other scholars, have tried to contribute in the course of the last twenty years or so. Collecting articles written over the course of this period is not just meant as the testimony of an intellectual journey, but also a way of tracing such a journey in retrospect and mapping the important moments of the intellectual and scholarly debates that have contributed to shaping both our understanding and our expectations of the EU's possible futures.

Dieses Buch betont das Potenzial eines ganzheitlichen Ansatzes Europäischer Bürgerschaft für die bessere Bewältigung der Krisen der EU. Diese erste transnationale Staatsbürgerschaft der Neuzeit hat tiefere historische Wurzeln, mehr rechtliche Substanz und praktische Bedeutung als weithin angenommen. Werden ihre verstreuten Bestandteile zu Leitlinien und Grundsätzen zusammengefügt, zeigt sich deutlich die Bedeutung der Europäischen Bürgerschaft - aber auch notwendige Reformen:Rechte: Das EU-Grundrecht auf Freizügigkeit braucht stärkere Durchsetzungskraft und sollte durch einen Solidarfonds ergänzt werden. Es sollte auf den politischen Bereich ausgedehnt und für Drittstaatsangehörige leichter zugänglich werden.Beteiligung: EU-Verfahren zum Zugang zu Dokumenten, öffentlichen Beratungen und Initiativen mit mindestens einer Million Unterstützern müssen von Bürgern anstatt Lobbys genutzt werden.Identität und Vertrauen: Mehr Schüler und Studenten brauchen Bildung zu Europa und müssen aktive EU-Bürger werden.Das Buch schließt mit einer Reform-Agenda in 12 Punkten.

Democracies are transforming worldwide, but at the same time political inequality is increasing. This development threatens to leave growing portions of mass publics effectively ‘outside'the political process.This volume brings together leading authorities in the field of democratic citizenship and participation to address pertinent questions concerning the quality of the democratic political process at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Analysing causes and consequences of recent developments in democratic governance and citizenship, it contributes new and original research to the ongoing debate on the crisis of representative democracy. The contributors deal with a broad range of issues including aspects of democratic citizenship and citizens'perceptions of system performance, political inequality and the democratic impact of participatory innovations. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students in democratization studies, democratic citizenship, comparative politics, political sociology and political participation.

An assessment of EU communications policy judged against democratic and normative criteria within the framework of the question of the need for a European-wide public sphere. It argues that the EU should proceed through the mass media, with a policy based on a public service philosophy.

The contributors to this book examine the issues of constitutional choice that face the governments and citizens of today's Europe. Divided into three sections this study addresses: questions of political legitimacy and the meaning of democratic deficit in the EU; the reality of what institutional reforms and decision making processes are possible; and the rights of citizenship and values that should be protected.