Democratic Challenges of Differentiated (Dis)Integration

Abstract

This panel is concerned with democratic challenges of differentiated integration (DI) and disintegration. Early debates about DI mostly discussed it as a pragmatic tool for overcoming negotiation deadlock. In recent years, however, there is increasing attention to its democratic implications, both in normative and empirical terms. Questions as to the democratic justifiability and the de facto acceptance of DI have come to the fore. While some have criticized DI as a source of domination, others have described it as a democratic way to manage externalities and to accommodate diversity between the EU member states. Brexit has further complicated these debates by making it clear that not only differentiated integration but also disintegration must be seen as a real political possibility. Partial reversals of European integration – not only in the form of exit, but also within the EU – give rise to normative puzzles that await systematic analysis. Taken together, the papers in this panel show that the relation between differentiated (dis)integration and democracy is rarely straightforward, as positive and negative effects tend to go hand in hand.

Title	Details
Autonomy or Domination? Two Faces of Differentiated Integration	View Paper Details
The Democratic Ambivalence of EU Disintegration: A Mapping of Costs and Benefits	View Paper Details
Countering Democratic Backsliding by EU Member States: Constitutional Pluralism and ‘Value’ Differentiated Integration	View Paper Details
Differentiated Fiscal Surveillance and the Democratic Promise of Independent Fiscal Institutions in the EMU	View Paper Details
The Democratic Dilemmas of Differentiated Integration: The Views of Political Party Actors	View Paper Details