Revisiting the Origins of Euro-Republicanism: Hannah Arendt and the Normative Foundations of Post-National Democracy in Europe.

Hannah Arendt conceptualizes an evolving "crisis of state sovereignty" and related "perplexities of the rights of man". This paper examines how Arendt addresses the problem by developing ideas for a new federal and republican Europe which may serve as a model for a democratic renewal with universalistic ties. While citizenship rights, according to Arendt, must be defined and limited, Arendt suggests a post-national decoupling of state and nation. Her conceptual foundations of cosmopolitan Euro-Republicanism also point to a new universal political responsibility and post-sovereign politics in the global age. The paper demonstrates that Arendt's reflections provide approaches to mediate the tensions between the two essential claims of liberal democracy, namely democratic self-rule and universalism. Arendt, it is argued, helps to theorize and justify the EU as a post-national political community in its own right but also provides a framework for a critical theory of the European Union and its shortcomings. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]