Rediscovering Europe in the Netherlands - St Antony's College ...

ediscovering europe in the netherlands
ing them think it is natural to be governed by the rules that apply within
that system (Easton 1965; Beetham and Lord 1998: 1).
Complications resulting from the specific nature of the eu
When considering the issue of legitimacy, it must first be borne in mind
that legitimacy is closely connected to the historical development of the
nation-state, and second, that the character of the eu is contested at a
fundamental level (Friss and Murphy 2000: 228-9). Regarding the first
point, we must be wary of a state-centric approach in any attempts to
strengthen the legitimacy of eu policy.
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In this context, there is a tendency to assume that a strong sense of shared
history and culture is a requirement for the legitimate functioning of the
eu. Those who view the eu as an intergovernmental system emphasise
that the member states form the core of a shared identification; by acting
as representatives of the will of the people in the member states, they
indirectly legitimise the decisions of the eu. Those who would like to see a
federal future for the eu refer to the common European identity. Although
the object of identification may differ, these eu visions still manage to
share a state-centric vision of legitimacy (in which identification plays a
central role) (Sie Dhian Ho 2004: 167).
Neither vision is entirely accurate: the eu is not a state, at least not in
the classic Weberian sense of the word because, for one, it does not have
a monopoly over the lawful use of force, which remains in the hands
of the member states (Hix 2005: 4). Moreover, the limited powers and
resources of the eu cannot be compared with the general tax and budgetary
powers of the nation-state (Majone 1998: 10). Nor is the eu an
ordinary international organisation, due to its unique legal system and
unusual political order it has much greater capacity to intervene in the
economics and politics of the member states than other international
organisations (Wyncott 2002: 491). Beck (2004) accordingly concludes
that the usual concepts and theories fall short of what is needed for a
robust definition of the eu:
Diese historisch einmalige und einzigartige Form der zwischenstaatlichten und zwischengesellschaftlichen
Gemeinschaftsbilding entzieht sich allen gängigen Kategorien und
Konzepten. Am Beispiel Europas zeigt sich besonders deutlich, wie historisch wirklichkeitsfremd
und stumpf unsere politischen Begriffe und das theoretische Instrumentarium
der Sozialwissenschaften geworden sind – sind beide doch noch immer in dem Denkgebäude
eines methodologischen Nationalismus gefangen. (Beck 2004: 7).