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Real Constitution, Formal Constitution and Democracy in the European Union
Author(s) -
ERK JAN
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
jcms: journal of common market studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.54
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1468-5965
pISSN - 0021-9886
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-5965.2007.00725.x
Subject(s) - constitution , democracy , european union , politics , federalism , ambiguity , deliberation , political science , european integration , context (archaeology) , law and economics , sociology , law , economics , geography , linguistics , philosophy , archaeology , economic policy
The European integration experiment might be sui generis in many ways, but this does not mean that one could not import theoretical insights from other fields of study that seek to understand the workings of political unions where unity and diversity coexist. In particular, the literatures on comparative federalism, political theory and constitutional politics can help set the study of the European Union in a broader context. One point that emerges from this theoretical cross‐fertilization is the absence of a shared language space that could function as the forum for European democratic deliberation. As a result, democracy in Europe by default functions through the underlying real constitution of national demoi instead of a pan‐European demos . Similar experiences in multination federations suggest that in such cases formal constitutions will inevitably come to reflect the deep differences between the constituent units. In this context, some degree of constitutional ambiguity might be not only unavoidable but also desirable.