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Yes; in political science terms the EU is a very interesting hybrid between an intergovernmental organisation ("we the governments") and a supranational governm
by pmyteh 9y ago
Yes; in political science terms the EU is a very interesting hybrid between an intergovernmental organisation ("we the governments") and a supranational government (which could theoretically be "we the people").
The structure is very close to that of a very powerful intergovernmental body, though, and there's not (yet?) a strong European polis/sense of shared identity. The democratic aspects of the EU as itself (rather than as a confederation of themselves-democratic national governments) are underdeveloped.
- pbhjpbhj 9y ago>there's not (yet?) a strong European polis/sense of shared identity // I don't know about that, there presumably has been research/surveys on it but are you making the statement based on assumption? Even in the UK which is geographically separated, outside the Schengen area, and not part of the monetary union there is still clearly a lot of people who feel European.
- gadders 9y agoA lot, but a minority.
- digi_owl 9y agoAnd it seems to depend on where in a nation one lives, and what occupation one holds (or held).
- pmyteh 9y ago"sense of shared identity" may be a bit loose; I meant in the sense of not feeling a constituent part of a common political community. Plenty consider themselves European (I suspect rather more in the UK since the Brexit vote made the question a bit more salient) but I doubt there are many whose principal allegiance is to the European Union, rather than France, the UK, England or Yorkshire. And yes, this is an informed assumption rather than based on a particular survey. In practical terms, as someone else stated, European Parliament elections are conducted as a series of more-or-less isolated national campaigns, with a weak sense of a body of citizens making a decision as a continental group. This is perhaps beginning to change, with the Europarties nominating explicit lead candidates for the presidency of the Commission at the last Parliament election, which provides a certain cross-border unifying factor. It's notable that in my country (the UK) these candidates were barely mentioned, though, and the race was treated as a proxy fight for future control of the Westminster parliament, or as a chance to elect eurosceptics to protest the EU as a whole.
- vixen99 9y agoSure but don't conflate the EU with Europe, much as the former would like you to.