Bureaucratization or Strengthening of the Political?

Abstract

Along with accession negotiations, integration into the European Union (EU) has become a central dimension of Estonian politics, creating new institutional practices and shaping domestic political processes. This article explores how the positions of and relations between the Estonian government, civil servants, parliament and civil society have been constructed in the course of preparations for EU membership, and discusses the findings from the viewpoint of democratic politics. With the help of different concepts of discursive power, it is highlighted that although parliament and civil society have acquired increasing power in the discourses of integration and there have been attempts to increase their involvement, power over these discourses is still predominantly exercised by civil servants and the government. This reflects the tensions built into the logic of integration that, on the one hand, is dominated by the principles of speed, efficiency, expertise and inevitability, but on the other has placed increasing emphasis on the democratic aspect. Altogether, integration tends to limit democracy to a minimal model, reinforcing some general weaknesses of democracy that are common in the post-communist countries, and intertwining these with the technocratic, elite-centred tradition of the EU that is being adopted by the applicant states.