Abstract
The conclusion sums up the main results of the book and discusses whether and to what degree democracy is possible in the EU’s multilevel system in the context of liberal capitalism. Seven problem fields and possible remedies are discussed, namely (1) an over-bureaucratisation, (2) expert dominance, and (3) an over-constitutionalisation, (4) differentiated integration, (5) the effects of negative integration, (6) the lack of an idea and a practice of the EU common good, and (7) a weakly developed demos. Possible solutions refer, first, to enlarging institutional and political spaces for democracy by getting back decision-making into directly legitimate bodies and the public realm, and second, by politicising the EU, which would third enhance the development of an EU demos.
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Wiesner, C. (2019). Conclusion: The EU as a Democratic Polity?. In: Inventing the EU as a Democratic Polity. Palgrave Studies in European Political Sociology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94415-9_18
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