ABSTRACT

This book examines and investigates the legitimacy of the European Union by acknowledging the importance of variation across actors, institutions, audiences, and context.

Case studies reveal how different actors have contributed to the politics of (re)legitimating the European Union in response to multiple recent problems in European integration. The case studies look specifically at stakeholder interests, social groups, officials, judges, the media and other actors external to the Union. With this, the book develops a better understanding of how the politics of legitimating the Union are actor-dependent, context-dependent and problem-dependent.

This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of European integration, as well as those interested in legitimacy and democracy beyond the state from a point of view of political science, political sociology and the social sciences more broadly.

part 1|38 pages

Theoretical Framework: The Politics of Legitimation

chapter 1|14 pages

Introduction

ByChristopher Lord, Peter Bursens, Dirk De Bièvre, Ramses A. Wessel, Jarle Trondal

chapter 2|22 pages

Conflating Policy, Democracy and Legitimacy

An Illustration through Stakeholder Involvement
ByClaire Godet, Bastiaan Redert

part 2|88 pages

Legitimation by Individual Citizens and Officials

chapter 3|20 pages

‘Winning Minds, not Hearts’?

The Legitimation Challenge of Citizens' Emotions about European Integration after the Euro-crisis
ByCamille Dobler

chapter 4|29 pages

Trust Lost, Trust Regained?

Citizens' Trust in EU, National and Subnational Governments During and After Economic Crisis 2008–2019
ByDominika Proszowska

chapter 5|21 pages

The Public and EU Legitimacy

A Framework for Understanding the Meaning of Public Opinion for European Integration
ByJoris Melman

chapter 6|16 pages

Dublin is Dead

A Study in Delegitimation
ByRadu-Mihai Triculescu

part 3|64 pages

Legitimation by Media and Parliaments

chapter 7|23 pages

Whose Voice Is Louder?

Analysing the EU's Legitimation Through the Apple State Aid Case
ByElena Escalante-Block

chapter 8|19 pages

Legitimation Strategies and National Parliaments

The Case of Anti-Corruption
ByEmilija Tudzarovska Gjorgjievska

chapter 9|20 pages

Toothless Observers or Comprehensive Players?

Conceptualising the Involvement of National Parliaments in the European Semester
ByIvana Skazlic

part 4|71 pages

Legitimation by Governments, Courts and External Actors

chapter 10|27 pages

A Two-Way Street

Flexible and Rigid Legitimation across Actors and Policies in the EU
ByJulien Bois, Jose Piquer

chapter 11|18 pages

Post-Crisis Legitimacy in the EU's Economic and Monetary Union

The Cases of European Fiscal Policy Coordination and Banking Supervision
ByPhilipp Lausberg

chapter 12|24 pages

Legitimacy, Conditionality, and Norm Compliance

Lessons from the EU's Normative Power Approach
ByTiffany G. Williams

part 5|41 pages

Theoretical Conclusions on Legitimation and Legitimacy

chapter 13|16 pages

Polycrisis and Resilience in the European Union

Covid-19 and Avenues for Future Studies
ByJarle Trondal, Marianne Riddervold, Akasemi Newsome

chapter 14|15 pages

The Many Actors of Direct and Indirect Legitimation

ByChristopher Lord

chapter 15|8 pages

Concluding Reflections

(Re)Legitimation by Institutional Design?
ByPeter Bursens, Dirk De Bièvre, Christopher Lord, Jarle Trondal, Ramses A. Wessel