Democratization from Below in the European Union: An Exploration

DiEM25. Plan B. Blockupy. Austerexit. The multiple crises that have afflicted the European Union over the better part of the last decade have spurred numerous demands by social movements for democratic accountability at the European level, if not full-scale democratisation of the Union itself. But what is required for such a bottom-up movement to have a viable chance of success? Beginning with an overview of the debates surrounding the current state of the EU (Habermas 2012, 2015; Streeck 2014; White 2015; Offe 2013; Fazi 2014), this paper explores the requirements and obstacles of European democratisation by imagining a hypothetical pan-European political party. In recent years, the idea of “partisanship” has enjoyed a revival in political theory circles as a tool of political organisation and contestation (White and Ypi 2010, 2011, forthcoming; Simms 2012; Dean 2016). Thinking through the logistical and mobilisation requirements of a pan-European party allows us to engage in a coherent and systematic way a variety of questions about the possibility of European integration from below, such as: To what extent can the project of a democratic Europe be pursued at the European level, and to what extent does it require political changes within individual nation-states? How does a successful pan-European movement navigate differences between member states? What kinds of resources are required for a pro-democratisation movement to organise effectively against opponents of democratisation? To be sure, movements like Plan B or Yanis Varoufakis’s DiEM25 do not fashion themselves as formal political parties; but I argue that their success as movements depends on their being able to fulfil equivalent or similar functions. Using the thought experiment of a hypothetical pan-European party should, at the very least, provide a useful axis of reflection on the opportunities and hurdles that face any attempt—from below or from above—to close the democratic deficit in European governance.