The Normativity of the European Union

Reconstructing the integration process with a view to the Eurozone crisis, Eriksen provides an insight into the conditions for integration and the nature of the EU. The book offers a novel account of what has made European integration possible based on a pragmatist approach.

The force of reasons in legally organized orders constitutes the core component of this approach. Eriksen identifies the reasons for European integration as imperatives – as normative musts. The book explains why further integration has become a moral duty and why there is an expectation that the EU should be democratic.

A novel model of the EU as a non­state government premised on a set of democratic innovations is suggested. This model, which has a cosmopolitan underpinning, is in line with changes in international relations brought about by the integration process; the conditioning of sovereignty upon the respect of democracy and human rights.

Contents:

1. The 'Musts' of European Integration
2. Voluntary Supranationalism
3. European Democracy
4. Democratic Alternatives or Dead Ends?
5. A Cosmopolitan European Future
6. Fraternité – The Missing 'Must' of Integration