Conference: How can democracy and European government be reconciled?

The Center for Critical Democracy Studies invites you to a conference which explores fundamental questions surrounding the European Union. 

The European Union is often said to suffer from a democratic deficit. Some argue that technocrats in Brussels and Frankfurt substitute their decisions for the will of this or that people democratically expressed at the ballot box, while others suggest that selfish member states stand in the way of achieving the necessary cooperation and coordination.

Our colloquium will address some of the fundamental questions arising from this debate. How should one conceive of democracy in a union of quasi-sovereign states? Is it necessary to create a European “demos” in order to have a democratic European Union, or can one rely on democratic processes in each of the member states? Must we await a new Tocqueville to give us a theory of transnational democracy, or can existing theories of democracy explain the unidentified democratic object that is the European Union? Should the institutional structure of the EU be altered to create a European state?

Program

Morning

The European state: a category to invent

• 11h –  Introduction by Stephen Sawyer, Dimensions of the European State: Challenging the Myth of Stateless Democracy
• 11:30 – Glyn Morgan, A European Superstate?

Afternoon

The shock of the East-West democracies

• 2 pm – Jacques Rupnik, From ‘People's Democracy’ to ‘Populist Democracy’
• 3 pm – Jean-Marc Ferry, European public space: On the weakness of civil society, media, NGO's, transnational deliberation

Pause

What is the future of Europe after Brexit?

• 17h30 – Enrico LETTA - Towards a European federalism?
• 18h30 – Debate animated by Arthur Goldhammer with Jean ARTHUIS (MEP) and Ed MILIBAND (Former Leader of the Labor Party UK)

Free admission prior registration: lasocietetocquevillegmail.com