Synopses & Reviews
Since the beginning of the European Community students of international politics and of international, resp. constitutional law, have been wondering what kind of animal it is, and will be, once integration has been completed. Political analysts have tried to develop solutions, but few, so the author claims, have gone any farther than stating the necessity of a new "transformation" of democracy; fewer still have set about devising new models of a "postparliamentary" democracy. However, the answer does not lie in a basically statist concept of constitutionalization-cumparliamentarization. What is needed, the author argues, is a flexible system that supplements the European decision-making process with various direct democratic instruments such as the use of referenda. These would serve to increase the accountability of the politicians without demanding or requiring a definitive resolution of the exact constitutional status of the Union.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 170-176) and index.