The Struggle for EU Legitimacy: Public Contestation, 1950–2005

295 Pages·2013·1.555 MB·English

by  Claudia Schrag Sternberg (auth.)

Palgrave Studies in European Union Politics
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MANAGEMENT AND CULTURE IN AN ENLARGED EUROPEAN COMMISSION
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THE EU’s LISBON STRATEGY
Evaluating Success, Understanding Failure
Claudia Schrag Sternberg
THE STRUGGLE FOR EU LEGITIMACY
Public Contestation, 1950–2005
Yves Tiberghien ( editor )
LEADERSHIP IN GLOBAL INSTITUTION BUILDING
Minerva’s Rule
Asle Toje
AFTER THE POST-COLD WAR
The European Union as a Small Power
Liubomir K. Topaloff
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The Struggle for EU
Legitimacy
Public Contestation, 1950–2005
Claudia Schrag Sternberg
Career Development Fellow and Acting Director of Studies,
St Hugh’s College, University of Oxford
© Claudia Schrag Sternberg 2013
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2016 978-1-137-32783-3
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First published 2013 by
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ISBN 978-1-349-46025-0 ISBN 978-1-137-32784-0 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137327840
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To my grandmothers, Lisa Schrag and Dr B é k é si K á lm á nn é
Matus Anna
Contents
Acknowledgements ix
List of Abbreviations x
Introduction: Approaching Legitimacy through
Discursive Meanings 1
Plan of the book 12
1 Peace, Prosperity, and Progress: Early Legitimating
Narratives, 1950s–1970s 14
Indispensability 16
The European common good 22
Enlightened social engineering 30
Legality 39
Conclusion 43
2 Democracy and Other Challenges: Early
Counter-Discourses, 1950s–1970s 4 5
Democracy 46
Intergovernmentalism 61
Challenges to functional problem-solving 6 8
Conclusion 73
3 A Europe Closer to its Citizens: The People’s Europe
Project of the 1980s 7 6
Citizen expectations and the will of the people 8 0
Communicating with the people and quantifying promises 8 2
Forging Europeans 89
Subjects into citizens 95
Conclusion 100
4 Maastricht in the French and German Debates: Crumbling
Promises and the Question of Who Might Rule 1 03
EMU and the crumbling promise of prosperity and peace 1 06
Whose rule? Citizens, the body politic, and democracy 1 15
Conclusion 126
vii
viii Contents
5 Discursive Crisis Management: Stressing and Stretching
‘Democracy’, 1990s–2000s 1 28
Democracy as transparency 135
Subsidiarity as closeness to the citizens 1 38
Governance and participation 141
Identity- and demos -building 145
Conclusion 151
6 A Constitutional Moment? The Constitution in the
French and German Debates 1 53
What kind of Europe do we want? The French debate 1 54
What is wrong with the French? The German debate 1 66
Comparisons and conclusions 180
7 The Story and the Literature: Democracy, Efficiency,
and the Contested Game of EU Politics 1 87
The story assembled 188
Government by and for the people 1 97
Politicization versus de-politicization: EU politics as a
contested game 210
Conclusion 223
Conclusion: EU Legitimacy as a Sisyphean
Aspiration? 225
Notes 231
Bibliography 242
I ndex 271
Acknowledgements
Several people have generously read parts or even all of the manuscript,
and have provided me with helpful comments: Geoffrey Edwards,
V é ronique Mottier, Kalypso Nicola ï dis, Helen Thompson, Virginie Van
Ingelgom, Jonathan White, and several anonymous reviewers. I have
received further feedback, insights, or encouragement from Duncan
Bell, Anne Deighton, Andreas Fø llesdal, Michael Freeden, Pasquale
Pasquino, Frances Rosenbluth, and Marc Stears. Finally, I owe a very
special thanks to David Robertson for his trust and inspiration. Rachel
Malkin has provided excellent editorial assistance, and acted as my
imaginary sympathetic reader. Amber Stone-Galilee and Andrew Baird
have been amazingly efficient and supportive editors.
This study has benefited from generous funding by the Deutsche
Forschungsgemeinschaft , the DAAD, Emmanuel College Cambridge, and
the F ondation Wiener-Anspach. I am indebted also to Renaud Dehousse
for hosting me at Sciences Po in Paris during several extended fieldwork
stays, and to Justine Lacroix for welcoming me at the U niversit é libre in
Brussels. St Hugh’s College has since given me a wonderful intellectual
home in Oxford.
This book has been a while in the making, and Europe has faced
changes and challenges in this period. Personally I owe an immense
debt of gratitude to my family and my friends, and to Max.
Thank you all.
ix
List of Abbreviations
BMP Berliner Morgenpost
CAP Common Agricultural Policy
CDU/CSU Christlich Demokratische Union/Christlich Soziale Union
CEC Commission of the European Community/ies
CFSP Common Foreign and Security Policy
DCT Draft Constitutional Treaty
DZ Die Zeit
ECJ European Court of Justice
ECSC European Coal and Steel Community
EEC European Economic Community
EMU Economic and Monetary Union
EP European Parliament
EPA European Parliamentary Assembly
EU European Union
Euratom European Atomic Energy Community
FAZ Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
FDP Freie Demokratische Partei
FN Front National
HAB Hamburger Abendblatt
LF Le Figaro
L ib é Lib é ration
LM Le Monde
MEP Member of the European Parliament
MPF Mouvement pour la France
PDS Partei des Demokratischen Sozialismus
PS Parti Socialiste
SPD Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands
SZ S ü ddeutsche Zeitung
TECSC Treaty Establishing the European Coal and Steel
Community
TEEC Treaty Establishing the European Economic Community
TEU Treaty on European Union
UDF Union pour la D é mocratie Fran ç aise
UMP Union pour la majorité présidentielle/Union pour un
mouvement populaire
x