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Discursive Will Formation and the Question of Legitimacy in European Politics
Author(s) -
Jacobsson Kerstin
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
scandinavian political studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.65
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1467-9477
pISSN - 0080-6757
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9477.1997.tb00185.x
Subject(s) - legitimacy , democratization , proposition , politics , european union , political science , relation (database) , perspective (graphical) , frame (networking) , character (mathematics) , communicative action , positive economics , sociology , epistemology , political economy , law and economics , democracy , social science , law , economics , telecommunications , philosophy , geometry , mathematics , database , artificial intelligence , computer science , economic policy
This article addresses the question of legitimacy, both in a general theoretical perspective and more specifically in relation to policy making in the European Union. It is argued that Jürgen Habermas' recent theories of discursive will formation provide a useful frame work for understanding the current problems of legitimacy in European policy making. The main proposition is the central connection between communication and legitimacy, and it is argued that improving the communicative character of policy making should be a central aspect of the democratization efforts in Western Europe.