What's nonviolence to do with the European Union?

Ideologies - the workshop organizers remind us - explicitly give direction and shape political praxis. They are plural, as they define the boundaries and contexts where political ideas and practice meet. In this paper, we explore the potential of nonviolence as political ideology framework for the study of the EU. At the outset, we introduce nonviolence and define our approach to this concept. We then apply this ideological framework to three critical issues: the nature of EU power, the democratic deficit and the narrative of integration. We find that nonviolence re-defines the core dimensions of power and democracy, and imagines the EU in non state-morphic ways, situating praxis at the roots of the integration process and its narrative. In the conclusions we relate our proposals to the field of political ideology and theories of European integration.