European Union as a Postmodern and Multicultural Space: Technicalization of Politics and the Dilemmas of National Democracies

Abstract

Basic principles of the EU's politics of expansion have begun to be laid down since the mid-1990s following the historical decision to expand the Union towards Eastern Europe. By giving a meta-norm status to the principle of reciprocal intervention, the EU, as described by Robert Cooper, has taken the form of a postmodern state during the long process of integration. Unlike the integration policy, the EU formulates its expansion policy on realistic terms assuming that the candidates, which are not fully incorporated into the postmodern policy realm of the EU, are modern nation states. It is argued that the structural problems such as democratic deficit and/or the erosion of legitimacy inherent to the EU's postmodern integration politics have been exported to the candidate states in the process of the adaptation of the acquis communautaire.

Keywords

European Union, Globalization, Enlargement, Democratic Deficit, Politics of Acquis Communautaire

Citation

İrem, Nazım, “European Union as a Postmodern and Multicultural Space: Technicalization of Politics and the Dilemmas of National Democracies”, International Relations, Volume 3, Issue 9 (Spring 2006), pp. 51- 87.

Affiliations

• Nazım İrem, Assistant Prof. Dr., Dokuz Eylul University, Department of International Relations