Nationalism and Bounded Integration: What it Would Take to Construct a European Demos

European Journal of International Relations 7(2): 139–74.

This article uncovers some crucial key assumptions of polity‐formation underpinning the debate about the European Union’s democratic legitimacy. It uses theories of nationalism to understand why a demos is unlikely to develop easily at the European level. Based on a two‐by‐two categorization of the logic and scope of identity‐formation, I conclude that the most promising approach to European demos‐formation conceives of identities as both constructed and ‘sticky’. Labeling this theoretical position ‘bounded integration’, I suggest that it provides a more realistic foundation for developing democracy‐enhancing reform proposals than does post‐nationalist theorizing, especially due to the former’s explicit attention to identity‐conferring mechanisms such as education, language and media.

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1354066101007002001

DOI: 10.1177/1354066101007002001

Cederman, Lars-Erik. 2001. “Nationalism and Bounded Integration: What It Would Take to Construct a European Demos.” European Journal of International Relations 7(2): 139–74.

@article{nationalism-and-bounded-integration,
   title = {Nationalism and Bounded Integration: What it Would Take to Construct a European Demos},
   author = {Cederman, Lars-Erik},
   journal = {European Journal of International Relations},
   volume = {7},
   number = {2},
   pages = {139--74},
   year = {2001},
   abstract = {This article uncovers some crucial key assumptions of polity-formation underpinning the debate about the European Union's democratic legitimacy. It uses theories of nationalism to understand why a demos is unlikely to develop easily at the European level. Based on a two-by-two categorization of the logic and scope of identity-formation, I conclude that the most promising approach to European demos-formation conceives of identities as both constructed and `sticky'. Labeling this theoretical position `bounded integration', I suggest that it provides a more realistic foundation for developing democracy-enhancing reform proposals than does post-nationalist theorizing, especially due to the former's explicit attention to identity-conferring mechanisms such as education, language and media.},
   doi = {10.1177/1354066101007002001},
   url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1354066101007002001},
   status = {personal}
}