The Democratic Deficit of the European Union and Transnational Civic Culture

The Democratic Deficit of the European Union and

Transnational Civic Culture

Thesis submitted by Petar MARKOVIĆ

in fulfilment of the requirements of the PhD Degree in Political and Social

Sciences (ULB - “Docteur en Sciences Politiques et Sociales”) and of the

PhD Degree in Political Theory (LUISS – “Doctor in Political Theory”)

Academic year 2018-2019

Supervisors: Professor Justine LACROIX (Université libre de Bruxelles)

and Professor Leonardo MORLINO (LUISS)

Thesis jury:

Francois FORET (Université libre de Bruxelles, Chair) Mario TELÒ (LUISS, Secretary)

To my niece, Mia

Acknowledgements

The research for the dissertation before you was carried out within the framework of the Erasmus Mundus Joint Degree “Globalism, Europe, Multilateralism” (GEM) PhD School at Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali Guido Carli (LUISS). In addition to this scholarship, it has also been made possible by the visiting grant provided by the Wiener-Anspach Foundation, allowing me to spend an academic year at the University of Oxford. The extraordinary PhD journey that led to the thesis would not be possible without the financial, administrative and friendly help of all of the abovementioned institutions. Initial formulations of some themes developed in this thesis have been presented at numerous conferences and academic roundtables such as the ECPR General Annual Conference at the University of Montreal and the Social Philosophy Symposium at the Inter-University Centre in Dubrovnik, and published as chapters in edited volumes and journals (Marković, P., The Demoi-cratic Theory of the EU and the Quest for European Civic Humanism. In: Podunavac, M. (ed.) On Humanism. Journal of

Humanistic Studies, special edition 2/2016; Marković, P., Critique of the Theory of

EU as a Demoi-cracy: Lessons from the Euro-crisis. In: Brunkhorst, Hauke (ed.)

Social Movements and the Crisis of European Democracy. Eleven International

Publishing. (2018).

and the challenges of studying at three universities, countries and legal frameworks is equally appreciated. Much gratitude is due to Kalypso Nicolaïdis not only for her willingness to serve as sponsor for an immensely fruitful research stay at the University of Oxford but also for her friendship that made me feel quite at home there. Beyond supervision, the work of all three has been very influential in shaping my views on democratic politics and the European Union in general.

I also extend my gratitude to those professors that provided feedback on specific parts, outlines and ideas at various stages of the project. These include Milan Podunavac, Dragica Vujadinović, Ramona Coman, Mario Telò, Michael Freeden, Hauke Brunkhorst, and, especially, Amandine Crespy without whose sharp remarks and kind support the thesis would not look the same. A special mention goes to Vera Šćepanović and Pietro Demurtas for their comments on the chapter of the dissertation that utilized quantitative methods of data analysis.

Beyond the academia, my eternal gratitude goes, first and foremost, to my parents, Štefanija and Dragan, for their unconditional support and love over all the years. Finally, I would also like to thank my friends – the old, Predrag Zenović, Olga Mitrović, Vuk Uskoković, as well as the new ones radially spanning from Brussels to the far corners of Europe, most notably Klaus Kostenzer, Zdravko Ilić, Nicholas Crowe and Elena Avramovska – I thank you for the inspiring, heated and enriching conversations some of which found their way into the dissertation as well as for all the hours of carefree joy and laughter.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.1. THE CURRENT STATE OF EU DEMOCRATIC THEORY ... 15

1.1.1. The EU Democratic Dilemma ... 17 1.1.2. Overcoming the EU Democratic Dilemma ... 24 1.1.3. The Demoi-cratic Constellation and Beyond ... 30 1.1.4. What Kind of Democratic Deficit? ... 37 1.2. QUEST FOR AN EXPLANATORY FRAMEWORK ... 41 1.2.1. Neo-institutionalisms and the social basis of transnational democracy in the EU 41 1.2.2. Political culture and EU studies: Symmetry of mutual disinterest ... 51 CHAPTER TWO: THEORY ... 56 INTRODUCTION ... 56

2.1. NORMATIVE POLITICAL THEORY OF THE EUROPEAN UNION: BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN IDEAS AND PRACTICE OF TRANSNATIONAL DEMOCRACY IN THE EU ... 59

2.1.1. Societal democratic anchoring ... 62

2.2. RELATING THE CONCEPT OF POLITICAL CULTURE TO THE DEMOCRATIC THEORY OF THE EUROPEAN UNION ... 65 2.2.1. Mapping political culture ... 66 2.2.2. Bifurcation of political culture research: Positivism and interpretivism ... 69 2.2.3. Civic Culture ... 77 2.2.4. Civic Culture and its critics ... 83 2.2.5. Beyond Civic Culture ... 85 2.2.6. Political culture and the EU: Civic culture transnationalised? ... 93

2.3. TRANSNATIONAL CIVIC CULTURE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION ... 94

2.3.1. Political cultures of the EU ... 95

2.3.2. DISCURSIVE STRUGGLES OVER DEMOCRATIC DESIGN ... 102

PART II: TRANSNATIONAL DEMOCRACY AND POLITICAL CULTURE – CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK ... 110 CHAPTER THREE: FOUND IN TRANSLATION: DEFINING DEMOCRACY AND POLITICAL CULTURE IN AND OF THE EU ... 111 3.1. POLITICAL CONCEPTS AT AN INTERSECTION BETWEEN SYNCHRONICITY AND DIACHRONICITY ... 112 3.2.1. Overcoming conceptual confusion ... 113 3.2.2. The vicious circle of contestation ... 120 3.2.3. Bracketing conceptual contestation ... 124 3.2.4. Concept formation: A compound approach ... 137 3.2.5. Context-sensitive conceptual formation: Summary and conclusions ... 140 CHAPTER FOUR: FOUND IN TRANSLATION- DEFINING DEMOCRACY AND POLITICAL CULTURE IN AND OF THE EU ... 145 4.1. HOW TRANSNATIONALITY OPERATES ... 145 4.1.1. ‘In’ vs. ‘Of’ – levels of analysis ... 148 4.1.2. Democracy and political culture in the EU ... 150 4.2. DEFINING TRANSNATIONALIZATION ... 151 4.3. DEFINING TRANSNATIONAL DEMOCRACY AND ITS DEFICITS ... 154 4.3.1. Democracy: Competition and participation ... 154 4.3.2. EU Democracy: Introducing representation ... 157 4.3.3. EU Democracy: Representative malaise and participatory remedies ... 167 4.3.4. Transnational democracy of the EU: The definition ... 175 4.4. TRANSNATIONAL CIVIC CULTURE OF THE EU ... 175 4.4.1. Defining the political culture for the EU ... 175 4.4.2. Defining the transnational civic culture of the EU ... 179 PART III: DEMOCRACY AND POLITICAL CULTURE IN AND OF THE EU APPLIED ... 183 CHAPTER FIVE: METHODOLOGY ... 184

5.1. QUANTITATIVE AND/OR QUALITATIVE METHODOLOGY: MIXED METHOD ... 187

CHAPTER SIX: SURVEYING FOR DEMOCRACY IN THE EU: POLITICAL ATTITUDES OF

CONTEMPORARY EUROPEANS ... 214

6.1.ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK ... 214

6.2. DATA AND METHODS I (POSITIVIST APPROACH) ... 216

6.3. QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS ... 221 6.3.1. Establishing political objects: Factor analysis ... 221 6.3.2. Sample clustering and the emergence of political subcultures ... 221 6.3.3. Cross-national survey data and EU level democracy ... 225 6.4. DISCUSSION ... 233 6.5. CONCLUSION ... 236 CHAPTER SEVEN: EUROPEAN CITIZENS’ INITIATIVE AND THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION’S INTERTIA ... 238

7.1. WHAT IS (AT STAKE) WITH THE ECI? ... 241

7.2. THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY: ECIS IN PRACTICE ... 244

7.3. ROAD TO CANOSSA: STRUGGLES OVER ECI REFORM IN THREE ACTS ... 258

7.4. FINDINGS: INTERPLAY OF FOREGROUND FRAMES AND BACKGROUND CULTURES ... 285

CONCLUSION ... 298

APPENDICES ... 309