Integration, Democracy and Legitimacy

Abstract

The EU has passed its half-century. This chapter considers two related issues that are central to the development of the EU. The first half of the chapter addresses the rich literature that explores the rationale for EU integration. There are contending theories and the literature is, unsurprisingly,still evolving. The objective within this part of the discussion is to render accessible to lawyers the scholarship by those schooled in international relations and political science that has explored the dynamic of EU integration. It is also designed to reveal the assumptions and implications of particular integration theories for EU democracy. The focus in the second half of the chapter shifts to democracy itself, and analysis of the burgeoning literature concerned with the nature of EU democracy, the extent to which the EU suffers from a democratic deficit, and the ways in which it can be alleviated. There is a significant measure of agreement as to the features that are or might be problematic within the EU from a democratic perspective. It will however be seen that the divergence between scholars turns on differences as to the factors that are regarded as important in assessing EU democracy, which then leads to differences of view as to particular aspects of the democratic deficit critique. The discussion draws on insights from integration theory where relevant to the inquiry.