Participatory democracy, civil society and social Europe : a legal and political perspective / Gautier Busschaert.
2016
KJE3275 .B87 2016 (Map It)
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Details
Author
Title
Participatory democracy, civil society and social Europe : a legal and political perspective / Gautier Busschaert.
Published
Cambridge, United Kingdom : Intersentia, [2016]
Call Number
KJE3275 .B87 2016
ISBN
1780683952 (hardback)
9781780683959 (hardback)
9781780683959 (hardback)
Description
xii, 237 pages ; 25 cm.
System Control No.
(OCoLC)950929751
Summary
Participatory democracy has become a buzzword in current discussions about how to democratize the EU. European Institutions associate it with civil society involvement in European governance and claim that it might reduce its so-called democratic deficit. The Treaty of Lisbon formalizes this promise by enacting a new Article 11 TEU specifically dedicated to participatory democracy as a founding principle of the EU legal order. This participatory turn has already attracted much scholarly attention. However, two fundamental paradoxes have been overlooked. Whereas participatory democracy was traditionally meant to further the maximum participation of citizens in political life, the EU supports a modern version of the participatory ideal where citizens are represented by a self-designated elite of civil society experts. This book takes a critical stance on that technocratic form of government. At the same time, it examines whether there are realistic ways for a bureaucratic organization like the EU to involve a truly civil society of active citizens in governance. Participatory democracy was also intended to overcome the social inequalities of market capitalism. Yet, the EU came into existence as a European economic community embracing free and undistorted competition. This book claims that European civil society may only flourish if social Europe acts as a counterweight to economic Europe. So it analyses whether the EU has developed a social dimension strong enough to protect civil society from the colonizing forces of European economic integration. The author is currently working as an attorney at Van Olmen & Wynant, a Brussels-based law firm with a niche expertise in social and employment law. He also holds a PhD in law from the University of Leicester, awarded for the doctoral thesis upon which this book is based.
Bibliography, etc. Note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 195-237).
Record Appears in
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
v
Abbreviations
xi
ch. 1
Democratic EU: from Representation to Participation
1
1.1.
Introduction
1
1.2.
Representative Democracy and the Community Method
1
1.3.
Participatory Democracy and the Community Method
5
1.3.1.
Citizenship
5
1.3.2.
Organised Civil Society
7
1.4.
Participatory Democracy and the Open Method of Coordination
11
1.5.
Assessing the Participatory Turn: Outline
13
ch. 2
Reviewing the Participatory Ideal of Bits and Pieces
17
2.1.
Introduction
17
2.2.
Participatory Theory of Democracy and Its Limits
17
2.3.
Battling for the Soul of (European) Civil Society
21
2.4.
Deliberative Democracy and Its Limits
25
2.5.
Conclusions
34
ch. 3
Overcoming the Participatory Ideal of Bits and Pieces
35
3.1.
Introduction
35
3.2.
Civil Society: a Sphere of Participation between State and Market
36
3.3.
Organised Civil Society in Multilevel Social Europe
40
3.4.
European Economic Law: Colonising?
44
3.5.
Social Europe: Democratic?
50
3.6.
Social Europe: Effective?
54
ch. 4
Revisiting the Fundamentals of Internal Market Law
57
4.1.
Introduction
57
4.2.
Freedom of Establishment
60
4.3.
Freedom to Provide Services
63
4.4.
Delivering Welfare Services Financed by Social Solidarity: an Economic Activity?
68
4.5.
Civil Solidarity in an Economic Context
71
4.6.
Conclusions
73
ch. 5
Revisiting the Fundamentals of European Competition Law
77
5.1.
Introduction
77
5.2.
Are CSOs Undertakings?
79
5.3.
CSOs and Anti-Competitive Agreements
83
5.3.1.
Balancing Competition against Social Goals under Article 101(1) TFEU
85
5.3.2.
Integrating Social Goals within Competition under Article 101(1) TFEU
88
5.3.3.
Integrating Social Goals within Competition under Article 101(3) TFEU
90
5.4.
CSOs and State Aids
93
5.5.
Conclusions
98
ch. 6
Civil Dialogue -- A Magic Cure for the Democratic Ailments of the Community Method?
101
6.1.
Introduction
101
6.2.
European Civil Society: an Elite Game
104
6.3.
Procedural Rules I: Opening Consultations
110
6.4.
Procedural Rules II: Democratising European Civil Society
120
6.5.
Conclusions
126
ch. 7
Open Method of Coordination -- Radicalising Participatory Democracy in the EU?
129
7.1.
Introduction
129
7.2.
Theoretical Promises
132
7.3.
Practical Disappointments
133
7.4.
Reforming the Social OMC
140
7.4.1.
Legal Reforms
143
7.4.2.
Political Reforms
147
7.4.3.
Constitutional Reforms
148
7.5.
Conclusions
151
ch. 8
Looking Back -- Moving Forward
153
8.1.
Introduction
153
8.2.
European Economic Law: Colonising?
154
8.3.
Social Europe: Democratic?
163
8.3.1.
Community Method
163
8.3.2.
Open Method of Coordination
165
8.3.3.
Comparative Assessment
166
8.4.
Social Europe: Effective?
167
8.4.1.
Community Method
167
8.4.2.
Open Method of Coordination
172
8.4.3.
Comparative Assessment
178
Table of Legislation
181
Table of Cases
187
Bibliography
195