Download Methodologies and Research Design in the Social Sciences

A Political
Sociology
of
European
Democracy
A Political
Sociology
of
European
Democracy
Week 7
Lecture 1
Lecturer
Paul Blokker
2
Governo Locale
Introduction
Part III:
The Political Sociological Study of
European Democracy
• Specific case-studies
• Political sociology of elites
• Political sociology of social movements
• Sociology of migration
• Forms of critique on EU democracy
• Methodologies
3
Governo Locale
Introduction
4
Governo Locale
Political
Sociology
Part III:
The Political Sociological Study
of European Democracy
5
Governo Locale
Political
Sociology
6
Governo Locale
Post-national
democracy
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Governo Locale
Post-national
democracy
The new era of rights
Stefano Rodotà
- There is a recent renewal in attachments to
rights: both Obama and Hollande refer to gay
rights and same sex marriages in public debate;
- Also in Italy, rights have new coinage: the
Corte di Cassazione recently ruled in favour of
gay marriages;
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Governo Locale
Post-national
democracy
The new era of rights
Stefano Rodotà
- Such renewed relevance of rights has a lot to
do with a European dimension;
- The European Court of Human Rights and the
EU Charter of Fundamental Rights provide the
basis for the protection and extension of rights;
- Also the Lisbon Treaty contributes to a rights
extension: for instance, the right to a Citizens’
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Initiative.
Governo Locale
Post-national
democracy
The new era of rights
Stefano Rodotà
- Europe is thus not merely about economic
predominance and narrow-minded politics;
- Europe is also about rights, and offers an
additional level of protection and enablement to
citizens;
- Economic and monetary integration is
paralleled by an integration by means of rights;
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Governo Locale
Post-national
democracy
The new era of rights
Stefano Rodotà
- Europe is thus not merely about economic
predominance and narrow-minded politics;
- Europe is also about rights, and offers an
additional level of protection and enablement
to citizens;
- Economic and monetary integration is
paralleled by an integration by means of rights;
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Governo Locale
Post-national
democracy
The new era of rights
Stefano Rodotà
- Europe is thus not merely about economic
predominance and narrow-minded politics;
- Europe is also about rights, and offers an
additional level of protection and enablement
to citizens;
- Economic and monetary integration is
paralleled by an integration by means of rights;
12
Governo Locale
Post-national
democracy
The new era of rights
Stefano Rodotà
- Europe suffers from a double deficit:
1. democratic (input, participation);
2. legitimacy (output, for whom? solidarity);
- These deficits have become more evident in
the current crisis;
- Many now argue for a new constitutional
project, including a reinforcement of the EP;
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Governo Locale
Post-national
democracy
The new era of rights
Stefano Rodotà
- If Europe needs ‘redemocratization’ the
development of a common economic policy is
not enough, it would merely create a “European
democracy without a people”;
- Current elections result point to times that are
changing: ‘citizens’ actions work through
rights, and citizens are the indispensable
protagonists of a possible new era’.
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Governo Locale
Post-national
democracy
A Porous Democracy Will Save
Europe
Andrea Manzella – La Repubblica
- The real democratic question of our times is
the relationship between the democratic state
and the financial economy;
- The problems of the Euro and of the crisis in
general have turned into a kind of
subterranean referendum on being pro or
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contra the EU;
Governo Locale
Post-national
democracy
A Porous Democracy Will Save
Europe
Andrea Manzella – La Repubblica
- Three radical changes:
1. “States as Masters of the Treaties”  ”Treaties as
Masters of States”;
2. The democratic deficit has descended to the state
level: an induced democratic deficit;
3. A rapidly increased visibility of the EU in national
public debates.
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Governo Locale
Post-national
democracy
A Porous Democracy Will Save
Europe
Andrea Manzella – La Repubblica
- A ‘new political energy’ is visible;
- It is not true that this energy is necessarily
populist;
- This energy could also be pushing towards a
‘porous democracy’ which is able to connect
national democracies and a EU democracy.
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Governo Locale
Political
Sociology
Part III:
The Political Sociological Study
of European Democracy
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Governo Locale
EU democracy
analysed
A Political Sociology of
European Actors
(Georgakakis & Weisbein 2010)
- In political scientific and other approaches to
European integration, actors have not figured
prominently, at least not in individualistic or group
terms (exception: history of EU integration);
- A prominent emphasis is on states
(intergovernmentalism) and institutions (the
Council, the Commission);
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Governo Locale
EU democracy
analysed
A Political Sociology of
European Actors
(Georgakakis & Weisbein 2010)
- An important sociological thread in European
research is endorsing an approach that focuses on
actors in their own right;
- A political sociology (i.e. focussing on actors that
are important for European politics) might engage
with both elite actors on the EU level as well as
social actors, on the level of society;
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Governo Locale
EU democracy
analysed
A Political Sociology of European Actors
The EU institutional field
- The EU can be understood as consisting of an
institutional field (or several), with its own rules,
norms, rites and rituals, forms of interaction,
distinct types of capital, distinct discourses (cf.
Bourdieu for the idea of field);
- The political field encompasses a sphere that is
about representation and protest, a universalistic,
public/civic language, distinct rituals (European
summits, conventions, presidencies), social and
cultural capital.
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Governo Locale
EU democracy
analysed
A Political Sociology of European Actors
The EU institutional field
- A focus on the EU as a multi-level political field
emphasizes:
1. the political struggle between groups and
individuals over the object of Europe/the EU;
2. a focus on the political agents (political
elites, civil activists, intellectuals, bureaucrats)
involved in the construction of the
EU/European integration (cf. Kauppi 2005)
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Governo Locale
EU democracy
analysed
A Political Sociology of European Actors
The EU institutional field
- Two types of factors hamper the democratic
quality of the EU:
1. the executive-domination of the political
field;
2. the European political field is dominated by
national politics and political cultures (Kauppi
2005);
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Governo Locale
EU democracy
analysed
A Political Sociology of European Actors
The EU institutional field
1. The concept of ‘field’ calls for a different
approach to EU institutions, that is, historically
tracing internal cleavages and analysing the
positions of different types of actors (full time
Europeans vs. part-time);
2. An emphasis on elite configurations as present in
the social field of the EU (shifting importance as,
for instance, in the recent rise of experts);
3. The effect of the structure of positions on how
agents think about Europe.
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Governo Locale
EU democracy
analysed
A Political Sociology of European Actors
The EU institutional field
- A political sociology of elites might reveal
important insights in the social, academic, and
professional backgrounds of those ‘in charge’;
- A political sociology of EU also contributes to a
more intricate understanding of relations and
conflict between relevant political actors (for
instance, between political and bureaucratic
actors, e.g., the EC and the DGs);
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Governo Locale
EU democracy
analysed
A Political Sociology of European Actors
The EU institutional field
- Focussing on elites and their specific
backgrounds as well as communities has
important advantages:
1. Enriching and historicising existing studies
in EU institutions;
2. Reconceptualizing the institutionalization of
the EU (using, e.g., different ‘fields’);
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Governo Locale
EU democracy
analysed
A Political Sociology of European Actors
The EU institutional field
- A sociology focussed on social agents and
groups might start from the ideas of:
- interaction;
- conflicts and tensions;
- the notion of habitus (dispositions to act);
- ideas and discourses;
- relational contexts (fields, institutions,
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organizations);
Governo Locale
EU democracy
analysed
A Political Sociology of European Actors
The EU institutional field
- Mapping out the persons that populate the
EU institutions should start from their
biographies and prosopographies;
- In this way, actors’ positions can be mapped
out (origin, institutions) as well as the structure
of resources and experiences (incl. social
capital);
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Governo Locale
EU democracy
analysed
A Political Sociology of European Actors
The EU institutional field
- An example is: DG Regio is populated by
geographers and urban sociologists whereas
DG Comp is populated by economic jurists;
• habitus/epistemic communities;
• networks; power resources
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Governo Locale
EU democracy
analysed
A Political Sociology of European Actors
The EU institutional field
- By sociologically researching actors one
contributes to a more complex picture of
European politics:
- duality national-supranational (?)
- official role of EU institutions (e.g.
Commission=supranational);
- organizational cultures;
- importance of specific skills (e.g. technocratic
in 1990s, management and financial in 2000s);
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- importance of ideas/dispositions.
Governo Locale
EU democracy
analysed
A Political Sociology of European Actors
The EU institutional field
- A political sociology can also fruitfully turn to
the study of ‘European society’;
- Such a study can include the attention for the
social foundations of European integration,
including in the form of matrimonial choices,
sports (football as European integration), intraEU mobility, towns twinning, Capitals of
Culture, consumption patterns, professional
identities, etc.
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Governo Locale
EU democracy
analysed
A Political Sociology of European Actors
The EU institutional field
- Actors of European society include
individuals, professional communities,
students, voluntary associations, social
classes);
- A focus on social actors ‘helps us to
understand how non-political issues may
produce a relatively integrated community’
(Georgakakis & Weisbein 2010);
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Governo Locale
EU democracy
analysed
A Political Sociology of European Actors
The EU institutional field
Benefits of a focus on European society:
1. An understanding of the diversity of groups
and actors engaged in European
integration/routine interaction on European level
leads to a re-evaluation of what European
integration is about;
2. A shift in focus on actors until recently seen as
less relevant (regional/local governments,
national political ministries, experts, local
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interest groups);
Governo Locale
EU democracy
analysed
A Political Sociology of European Actors
The EU institutional field
Benefits of a focus on European society:
1. An understanding of the diversity of groups
and actors engaged in European
integration/routine interaction on European
level leads to a re-evaluation of what European
integration is about;
2. A shift in focus on actors until recently seen
as less relevant (regional/local governments,
national political ministries, experts, local
interest groups);
34
Governo Locale
EU democracy
analysed
A Political Sociology of European Actors
The EU institutional field
Benefits of a focus on European society:
1. An understanding of the diversity of groups
and actors engaged in European
integration/routine interaction on European
level leads to a re-evaluation of what European
integration is about;
2. A shift in focus on actors until recently seen
as less relevant (regional/local governments,
national political ministries, experts, local
interest groups);
35
Governo Locale
EU democracy
analysed
A Political Sociology of European Actors
Eurostars and Eurocities (Adrian Favell)
- A sociology of free moving professionals in the
EU;
- Contribution to understanding the slowness
with which a European society – in terms of
cross-border settlement – emerges in the EU;
- A sociological study of how ‘European society’
is - or is - not created through individual life
choices and career trajectories;
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Governo Locale
EU democracy
analysed
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Governo Locale
EU democracy
analysed
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Governo Locale
EU democracy
analysed
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Governo Locale
EU democracy
analysed
A Political Sociology of European Actors
Eurostars and Eurocities (Adrian Favell)
- Even if one of the core missions of the EU is to
break down barriers to free movement, surprisingly
few people move and settle permanently outside
of their own country of origin;
- The percentage of the EU population is well under
5% and much behind migration of non-EU people;
- In highly global countries such as Britain or the
Netherlands the figure is under 1,5%;
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Governo Locale
EU democracy
analysed
A Political Sociology of European Actors
Eurostars and Eurocities (Adrian Favell)
- Favell attempts a novel approach to the study of
globalization and Europeanization, individualfocussed and using qualitative methods
(participant observation, oral history);
- He focusses on distinct Eurocities (Brussels,
Amsterdam) and Eurostars (young professionals);
- Among other things, he tries to understand the
level of Europeanization in terms of intra-EU
mobility and the importance of EU citizenship;
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