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On Dealing with Euroscepticism
Author(s) -
DUFF ANDREW
Publication year - 2013
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.1468-5965.2012.02304.x
Subject(s) - parliament , federalism , politics , political science , european union , nationalism , democratic deficit , political economy , legislature , european integration , public administration , democracy , institution , unification , law , sociology , international trade , economics , computer science , programming language
The article examines if and, if so, why and how political parties opposing the European Union have thrived. It looks at the role of national parliaments and national media in failing to engage convincingly with the European dimension of politics, and asks why the forces of European federalism have been so relatively ineffective. By analyzing the tensions between national and European political parties especially in the conduct of elections to the European Parliament, the article traces the rise of the nationalist forces within the EP and assesses their impact on the legislative and other work of the institution. It concludes by proposing measures to tackle the nationalist challenge to European unification, including more differentiated forms of integration, more direct democracy, the development of federal political parties and the constitutional settlement of a federal union.