ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the political dimension of civil disobedience as democratic practice in Europe from a conceptual and historical perspective. Reflecting on Hannah Arendt’s definition of civil disobedience that places it in the American tradition of voluntary associations, it aims to answer the question, Is there an alternative tradition of civil disobedience in Europe? The chapter, first, discusses the ongoing scholarly debate about civil disobedience in which the Rawlsian (liberal) concept has become challenged. Second, it examines how civil disobedience has been recently used in the political rhetoric of Catalan independentists and by French MEP Manon Aubry in attempts to justify freedom of rights. Third, it examines the postwar European integral federalism, focusing primarily on the Union of European Federalists, insisting on creating an alliance, also inspiring the “Europe of the Regions”. The chapter concludes that there is a potential alternative tradition of civil disobedience in Europe which can be traced back to the Proudhonian principle of a voluntary pact.
