Σύγχρονες ιδιότητες της Ευρωπαϊκής ενοποίησης
(EL)
Contemporary properties of European integration
(EN)
Χρυσοχόου, Δημήτρης Ν.
Δεν διατίθεται περίληψη.
(EL)
The progressive fusion of federal principles, confederal structures and consociational processes in the European Union of the 1990s has awakened a sense of renewed theoretical excitement. This article aims to assess the dialectics of theory-building in the larger polity, and reveal alternative ways of reconceptualising its current political properties and functions. Focusing on the dynamic interplay between autonomous self-rule and collective governance, it advances the thesis of Confederal Consociation, arguing that it is possible to strike a balance between the concurrent demands for territorial segmental autonomy and “ever closer union” insofar as the constituent parts are bound together in a sensibly arranged “Union” that is closer to a Gesellschaft rather than to a Gemeinschaft-type of transnational political organi sation. By comparing the basic properties of the Union with other discernible models of governance, the proposed typology claims to represent a promising analogy for reconceptualising the democratic “rules of the game”. In this context, the crucial question to be addressed is not only “Who governs?”, but also “Who is Governed?” in a par excellence “union of diversities” characterised by the concurrent demands for further constitutional engineering, national state-building processes and subnational identity-strengthening. Overall, the aim is to assess the limits and possibilities of a uniquely observed process of self-transformation from a politically loose system of democracies to a unity constituted by an “inclusive”, self-conscious and politically active transnational demos, capable of moving the European polity beyond elite domination.
(EN)
