ABSTRACT
It is clear that there are two basic types of reaction to the aforementioned decline; on the one hand, there is the search for a ‘new’ foundation for the community in its past, on the other there is the ambition to replace the totalitarian order with democratic procedures in the hope that this will provide some kind of panacea for all past (and maybe even some future) political and social ills. The key word for both these orientations is sovereignty. In the first case, sovereignty is understood as the sovereignty of an ethnonational state, in the second, as the sovereignty of the people, i.e. of citizens constituted by the political processes of a democracy. And
yet, ironically, the modern politics of Europe-to become part of which is the most important goal of all the political forces emerging in the former communist countries-is not based on sovereignty. The supranational politics, and policies, of European unification-with some elements of statehood already present and much more to come in the next few years-suggest that a high standard of living and a satisfactory level of freedom is attainable in states which are not sovereign in the traditional sense of the term.
