ABSTRACT
If democracy needs to move beyond its territorial basis in the ‘nation-state’, the European Union (EU) has an obvious relevance. It is already the most complex transnational political and economic structure in the contemporary world: it has an established policy-making system, and it includes both a democratically elected supra-state parliament and informal networks and pressure groups which span state borders. It is therefore tempting to believe that the task is ‘simply’ to democratise the existing set of interactions that constitute the Union. On the other hand, there is now widespread agreement that earlier proposals for overcoming the EU’s so-called ‘democratic deficit’ tended to be over-optimistic and that the problems are deeply embedded in the process of European integration. A variety of solutions are now advocated, including consultative referenda, the elaboration of constitutions, and direct elections of the Commission.1 However, the underlying assumptions about democracy are often taken for granted when such proposals are canvassed, and this is not an adequate basis for advancing either its theory or practice. For democracy is obviously a contested concept and proposals for its enhancement within the EU will be dependent upon the priorities and principles assumed by the theorist-whether or not these are avowed. There is also a second and equally difficult issue involved in thinking about democracy in relation to the EU: the spatial or territorial dimension. Does the ‘nation-state’ remain the primary location for democracy or is the EU a more appropriate site? Or do neither of these suppositions make sense? This chapter begins by exploring these conceptual questions. After clarifying the underlying assumptions about democracy and drawing some conclusions about the territorial issue, it offers suggestions for addressing the multiple problems involved in democratising the EU.
