Democracy, Social Resources and Political Power in the European Union*
In this book Kauppi develops a structural constructivist theory of the Europeon Union and critically analyses, through French and Finnish empirical cases, the political practices that maintain the Union’s ‘democratic déficit’.
Kauppi conceptualises the European Union as both an arena for political contention and a nascent political order. In this evolving, multi-levelled European political field individuáis and groups construct material and symbolic structures of political power, grounded in a variety of social resources such as nationality, culture and gender. By re-centring the analysis of European integration on political practices, Kauppi investigates how political agents – politicians, civil activists, ¡ntellectuals and bureaucrats – struggle with the transformations integration has brought about. Paradoxically, Europe is essentially a local phenomenon, embedded in specific national cultures, meaning structures and social settings. As the European Union has become more structured, imposing political practices and habits on the individuáis working in its institutions, individuáis also apply models of behaviour characterisfic of their political culture and of their positions in domestic political fields.
Drawing on an interdisciplinary framework, the author shows how the dominance of both executive political resources and domestic political cultures has prevented the development of European democracy. Supranational executive networks have become more autonomous, reinforcing the dominance of the resources they control. At the same time, national political cultures condition the political status of elected institutions such as the European Parliament.
The book is will be useful for undergraduate and gradúate students in the fields of European Politics, European Union Studies and International Relations.
