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The Constitution of a European Democracy and the Role of the Nation State
Author(s) -
Preuss Ulrich K.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
ratio juris
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.344
H-Index - 10
eISSN - 1467-9337
pISSN - 0952-1917
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9337.00133
Subject(s) - constitution , democracy , presupposition , character (mathematics) , political science , state (computer science) , european union , law , law and economics , power (physics) , sociology , economics , politics , epistemology , philosophy , international trade , mathematics , physics , geometry , algorithm , quantum mechanics
Starting from the presupposition that European democracy is necessary to the survival and development of the European Union, the author deals with the process which may entail a European constitution, and discusses the elements of the present legal structure of the EU which are conducive to a European Democracy. In particular, the author focuses on the incomplete, polycentric, and dynamic character of a possible EC/EU constitution, and on the duality of its legitimating principle. This claim is that these characteristics necessitate some institutional modifications of democratic principles if compared with national democracy, and that Euro‐democracy is possible if we do not simply apply the standards of democracy valid for Member States, but succeed in developing criteria which are adequate to the institutional qualities of the EC/EU. Finally, the author maintains the legal character of the regulatory power of the Community, and invokes the mutual legal bonds linking the Member States and their peoples as the source of the Community.[Note 1. Abstract by Silvia Vida. ...]