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Autonomy or Domination? Two Faces of Differentiated Integration
Author(s) -
Lord Christopher
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
swiss political science review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.632
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1662-6370
pISSN - 1424-7755
DOI - 10.1111/spsr.12472
Subject(s) - autonomy , democracy , member state , politics , european union , state (computer science) , public good , economic justice , political science , political economy , member states , law and economics , economic system , economics , law , international trade , algorithm , computer science , microeconomics
When is differentiated integration (DI) of the European Union a source of autonomy and when is it a source of domination? Much depends on what collective goods member state democracies seek through integration. Club goods often require member state democracies to form DIs of their choice. Public goods and common resource goods may, in contrast, require limits on DI if member state democracies are to meet their own obligations to their own publics to secure rights, justice, non‐domination and democracy itself. Those differences are important to understanding how European democracies should be ‘internationally ordered’ if they are to sustain internal forms of political autonomy. They also demonstrate the importance of DI to the autonomy of member state democracies in associating together beyond the state; in defining obligations within the state; and in securing the greatest autonomy of each European democracy compatible with the greatest possible autonomy of all European democracies.