The volume 'The Future of Europe: Democracy, Legitimacy and Justice after the Euro Crisis' is edited by Serge Champeau, Carlos Closa, Daniel Innerarity and Miguel Poiares Maduro.
About the book
The European Union seems to have rescued its single currency, but it has not yet put an end to the crisis. In this major new book, a group of fifteen international philosophers, economists, political scientists, sociologists, and legal experts compare the economic, political, constitutional, social, and cultural interpretations of the European crisis. They describe the challenges the EU faces in relation to legitimacy and democracy and address head-on the uncertainty over the future of Europe. The book considers different possible scenarios – from the Union's dissolution, with or without the continuation of the integration process, to its reinforcement through the building of a political union addressing the challenges of legitimacy, democracy and justice. Such a strengthened union could mark a new stage for democracy – not the democracy of ancient cities and modern states, but one convenient to the complex entities, neither national nor supra-national, of which the European Union, despite the crisis, is still the best modern example.
The Eurozone crisis in light of the EU’s normativity
Erik O. Eriksen in his chapter argues that if the EU's responses to the crisis trigger reaction – despite its limited competences – it is due to the fact that 'there has been an idea of a better Europe, of peace, justice, dignity and democracy, built into this project from the very beginning'. The member states, 'entangled in a community of fate and of collectivized risks', are now closely interrelated on the basis of mechanisms ensuring cooperation. The crisis has highlighted the fact that this integration is not only a matter of 'joint convenience' but a matter of 'justice and solidarity'. However, the political answers given to the crisis have undermined this ideal; they have 'brought humiliation back – not only in the form of economic and social exclusion but in the form of executive, intergovernmental dominance as well'.
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Erik O. Eriksen
'The Eurozone Crisis in Light of the EU’s Normativity'
In: The Future of Europe: Democracy, Legitimacy and Justice after the Euro Crisis
Serge Champeau, Carlos Closa, Daniel Innerarity and Miguel Poiares Maduro (eds)
Rowman and Littlefield, 2015
ISBN: 9781783481125