Europe's democracy trilemma

Bibliographic Data

ID4030636
AuthorsKaterina Nicolaidis (0000-0002-4596-3148, University of Oxford), Kalypso Nicolaïdis (Professor of International Relations and director of the Center for International Studies at the University of Oxford.), Richard Youngs (Senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Professor of International Relations at Warwick University.)
Year2014
Volume90
Issue6
Pages1403-1419
Publication date2014-11-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Affairs (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0020-5850 • E-ISSN: 1468-2346
PublisherOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1111/1468-2346.12176
OpenAlexW2090662041
LanguageEN
Citations received4

A truly democratic European Union seems to have become the graal of European politics, the project's redemptive promise and unreachable horizon. Much has been written about the gap between promise and performance and about the obstacles to EU democratization. Here, we suggest that one way to apprehend the ‘democratic deficit’ debate as it has evolved in the wake of the euro crisis is to think of it as a ‘democratic trilemma’. While the very notion of trilemma points to the tensions that arise in trying to satisfy these requisites simultaneously, we nevertheless need to look for ways of alleviating the trilemma rather than coming up with democratic magic bullets in a single one of these realms. While our main goal is to reframe and open up the debate around the key concepts of empowerment, mutual recognition and flexibility, we also provide examples of what this may mean

Democracy · democratic deficit · Democratization · Economic system · Economics · European union · International trade · Law and economics · Legitimacy · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Trilemma · European Union Policy and Governance · Law

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