Methodologies%20and%20Research%20Design%20in%20the%20Social%20Sciences

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A Political Sociology of European Democracy
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A Political Sociology of European Democracy
Week 1 Lecture 1 Lecturer Paul Blokker
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• Introduction
• MA in Political Science, University of Amsterdam
• PhD. from the European University Institute in
  Social and Political Sciences (2004)
• Postdoc at Universities of Liverpool and Sussex
  (with prof. Gerard Delanty)
• Research interests in (radical) democracy,
  multiple democracies, European integration,
  constitutionalism(-s), constitutional critique,
  participation, dissent

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• Introduction
• Current project
• Constitutional Politics
• in Post-Westphalian
• Europe (COPOLIS)
• Including interest in the case of Icelandic
  grass-roots constitutionalism

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• Website

bit.ly/PolSocEU

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• Introduction Course Objectives
• Exploration of a (critical) political sociology
  of European integration in general and of
  European democracy in particular
• Relation of European Studies to democratic
  theory
• Exploration of fruitfulness of political-sociologi
  cal approach with regard to specific empirical
  cases.

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• Introduction Rationale Programme
• The first part will discuss the role of a
  political sociology of democratic politics in the
  context of the changing contours of democracy and
  of the political in general.
• Attention to ideas, institutions, (civil)
  society, European society.
• Exploration of fragmentation and pluralisation of
  democratic politics (political and constitutional
  pluralism post-nationalism).

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• Introduction Rationale Programme
• The second part will approach the possibility of
  democracy from the angles of different
  democratic theories.
• Democratic legitimation on the European level
• Different theories of European democracy,
  emphasising different actors and different forms
  and intensities of legitimation
• The role of a European demos and European
  identity.
• The possibility of post-national democracy.

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• Introduction Rationale Programme
• The third part will deal with concrete cases of
  political conflict, crisis, and participation
  from above and below.
• Specific devices of a political-sociological
  approach actor-focused interpretative class
  networks contestation and critique.
• Case-studies of enlargement, the European
  Convention, European Social Forum, judges and
  lawyers.

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• Introduction Programme
• 1. Introduction A Political-Sociological
  Approach to the EU
• 2. The Westphalian Nation-State and European
  Integration
• 3. Democracy on the European level
• 4. The Democratic Deficit Formal and Informal
  Aspects
• 5. The Construction of a European Political
  Society
• 6. Multiple Democracies I Stakeholder Democracy
• 7. Multiple Democracies II Communitarian
  Democracy
• 8. Multiple Democracies III Post-National
  Democracy
• 9. Heuristic Devices of a Political-Sociological
  Approach
• 10. Focus I Political Elites, Classes, Epistemic
  Communities
• 11. Focus II Social Movements, Civic Actors,
  Contentious Politics
• 12. Focus III Perceptions of European Democracy

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• Why a Sociology of the EU?
• Emphasis on European society (in contrast to
  European institutions)
• - Transnational networks/fields
• - European public sphere(-s)
• - Civil movements and civic initiatives

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• Why a Sociology of the EU?
• b. Sociological dimension to European
  integration
• Ideas (as opposed to interests)
• Discourses/narratives
• Identity
• Culture
• Norms/institutions

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• Why a Political Sociology of European democracy?
• Emphasis on role of social actors in
  democratization (in contrast to exclusive focus
  on European institutions)
• - Social movements, associations
• - European public sphere(-s)
• - Variety of democratic channels and forms of
  political and civic action

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• Why a Political Sociology of European democracy?
• b. Emphasis on ideational, cultural dimension
• Democratic discourses
• Variety of democratic political cultures

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• Why a Political Sociology of European democracy?
• Emphasis on critical, pluralist approach
• Representative democracy vs. participatory
  approaches
• The role of critique, conflict and dissent

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• Why a Political Sociology of European democracy?
• Role of civic participation in addressing
  problems of (post-national) democracy?
• Role of conflict and dissent in formation
  European political society
• Need for socio-political imagination in studying
  democracy on European level
• Relating a plurality of normative models to
  socio-political reality
• European democracy as well as Europeanization of
  democracies in Europe.

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• The transformation of modern democracy

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• The 4 mutations of modern democracy
• (Rosanvallon 2006 219ff)
• A differentiation of the political
• A pluralization of the agents of the political
• A dissemination of the political
• An increasing secularization of the political.

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• The 4 mutations of modern democracy
• (Rosanvallon 2006 219ff)
• A differentiation of the political
• There is a growing disentanglement of
  sovereignty and government, two functions that
  were closely related in the modern nation-state
• Regulatory schemes operate on the transnational
  level (EU law WTO Human rights schemes)

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• The 4 mutations of modern democracy
• (Rosanvallon 2006 219ff)
• b. A pluralization of the agents of the
  political
• The classical agent of the political is the
  citizen who was represented through procedural
  forms (elections). Today, however, there are new
  forms of representation developing (expertise,
  moral).
• Experts represent stakeholders in governance
  networks. Charities represent a problem (poverty).

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• The 4 mutations of modern democracy
• (Rosanvallon 2006 219ff)
• A dissemination of the political
• Originally, individual emancipation (Locke) was
  distinguished from collective emancipation
  (Rousseau). Today these two forms are
  inextricably linked.
• The difference between liberalism and democracy
  has largely collapsed.

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• The 4 mutations of modern democracy
• (Rosanvallon 2006 219ff)
• d. An increasing secularization of the political
• We are living through the end of democracy based
  on the will. The idea that there exists a
  general will is cast in doubt today.
• It is increasingly clear that a unified agent
  a people is difficult to identify and in
  reality there are many different wills.

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• The transformation of modern democracy
• (Ferrara 2011 67ff)
• A first transformation of democracy was from an
  ancient idea of democracy (the rule of the many)
  to a modern, representative democracy.
• Modern democracy adds three aspects to democratic
  autonomy
• Individual rights
• Constitution and constitutionalism
• The Nation-State

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• The transformation of modern democracy
• (Ferrara 2011 67ff)
• A second major transformation is occurring today
  the relativization of the nation-society, and the
  emergence of a world society or international
  community.
• What does democracy mean in this context? Can
  democracy mean the same thing as when applied to
  a singular and national political regime?

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• The transformation of modern democracy
• (Ferrara 2011 67ff)
• When evaluating the European integration project
  and its democratic standards, can we talk about a
  democratic deficit?
• As Ferrara argues, it is only possibility to
  speak of a democratic deficit if we have a clear
  benchmark of what democracy should look like
  (such as the national measure).

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• The transformation of modern democracy
• (Ferrara 2011 67ff)
• Using the national measure for evaluating the
  democraticness of the EU is however problematic.
• The shift from government to governance means
• A shift from clear, centralized authority to
  shared authority
• A shift from direct sanctions to soft, indirect
  sanctions
• A shift in the meaning of legitimacy

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Introduction

• The transformation of modern democracy
• (Ferrara 2011 67ff)
• Using the national measure for evaluating the
  democraticness of the EU is however problematic.
• The shift from government to governance means
• A shift from clear, centralized authority to
  shared authority
• A shift from direct sanctions to soft, indirect
  sanctions
• A shift in the meaning of legitimacy

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• The transformation of modern democracy
• (Ferrara 2011 67ff)
• The new emphasis on governance points to a mode
  of politics/political coordination which entails
  control without commanding
• How does governance relate to democracy? Is
  democracy necessary based on majority rule and
  elections?
• Can governance be understood as invoking a
  different view of democracy, based on
  consensus-building between stakeholders?

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• The transformation of modern democracy
• (Ferrara 2011 67ff)
• According to Ferrara, the idea that democracy
  means that citizens are in the ultimate analysis
  authors of the laws to which to obey is to be
  substituted for by the idea that democracy means
  that citizens are ultimately the subscribers,
  free and equal, of a constitutional pact which in
  turn serves as a standard of legitimacy for any
  legislative, regulatory and administrative
  product (75)

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