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

ediscovering europe in the netherlands
and the democratic approach. The two approaches are closely related (as is
expressed in the concept of constitutional democracy), yet each has its own
specific characteristics. The constitutional tradition has focused mainly on
the legitimisation of political systems by offering safeguards by binding
government actions to the rule of law, distribution of power, checks and
balances, protection of the individual and independent judicial review. The
democratic tradition has concentrated mainly on the influence citizens
have on policy (De Jong 1991). Depending on the particular school within
the democratic tradition, scholars have concentrated on the influence of
citizens, via the principle of division of responsibility (the elector votes,
the politician speaks, deliberates and judges) (representative democracy);
on the design of instruments which enable citizens to decide what the
political system should do (direct democracy); on the citizenry’s influence
via deliberation rather than decision making modes based on majorities
(deliberative democracy); and finally, on social self-government (associative
democracy) (Engelen and Sie Dhian Ho 2004: 28-35).
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The four dimensions of legitimacy are important in both the constitutional
and democratic approach, but they are converted into institutions and practices
in a different way. This is evident, for example, in the way in which
people identify with a particular political system. In the democratic tradition,
identification with a political system depends mainly on the existence
of a demos, a political community with a collective identity. In the
constitutional tradition, by contrast, the focus is on shared interests and
common rights which together reveal a collective identity. The significance
of elections also differs in the two traditions. In the democratic tradition,
elections are primarily the channel by which the wishes of a demos are
expressed, while the constitutional tradition emphasises the significance
of elections as a central accountability mechanism (Scharpf 1999).
The eu has traditionally been legitimised in its own, non-state way. In
the remaining sections of this chapter we will further analyse the four
dimensions of legitimacy (results, representation and accountability, identification):
– how has legitimisation of eu policy traditionally taken place and what
recent changes have put pressure on this specific method of legitimisation
(section 2.3);
– how has the Netherlands traditionally legitimised its eu policy and
what recent changes have put pressure on this specific method of
legitimisation (section 2.4).