Policy with politics in the EU: Can you get there from here?

Abstract

This essay reviews Vivien Schmidt's book, Democracy in Europe: The EU and National Polities. In a departure from the standard approach to the EU's democratic deficit, Schmidt examines the impact of European integration on the democratic political systems of the member states. In other words, for Schmidt, the source of the problem is not how the EU is constructed, but rather the debilitating effects it has had, and continues to have, on national democracy. This is both interesting and insightful for two reasons. First, it locates the democratic deficit in Europeanization – that is, a dynamic process (as opposed to a static structure). Second, it implies that the solution to the problem of the democratic deficit will require far more complex action than merely tinkering with or even overhauling existing EU institutional arrangements. Schmidt's basic thesis is that there is a gap between the contemporary practice of democracy in Europe and old ideas about how democracy should function. Because citizens expect one thing based on their conception of democracy and yet experience something quite different – an experience mediated by a flawed discourse about democracy presented by national elites – frustration with what they perceive as a distant and unresponsive EU grows, along with a sense that the entire operation is illegitimate. After reviewing Democracy in Europe's novel and engaging argument, this essay concludes with a critique of its proposals to remedy the situation.