1,649
views
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
1 collections
    0
    shares

      If you have found this article useful and you think it is important that researchers across the world have access, please consider donating, to ensure that this valuable collection remains Open Access.

      Policy Perspectives is published by Pluto Journals, an Open Access publisher. This means that everyone has free and unlimited access to the full-text of all articles from our international collection of social science journals, and the authors don’t pay an author processing charge (APC’s).

      scite_
       
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: found
      Is Open Access

      Is the European Union Evolving or Failing?

      Published
      research-article
      Bookmark

            Abstract

            In recent years, the European Union (EU) has seen and grappled with a varied degree of crisis, which a few observers considered as proof of its vulnerability and at worst scenario - existential threat. As it is with every crisis, there are gainers and losers; there are those who benefit from the fallout and others who manage to turn vulnerability into opportunity and strength. The crisis surrounding the EU can be characterized along the latter context, particularly in the backdrop of rising European populism. The rise of contemporary European populism has raised many questions and generated debates. Based on its anti-EU rhetoric and growing public acceptability, populism is interpreted as EU's political nemesis. In the midst of rising European populism, the paper looks at the debates in which the EU is considered as a failing or failed project. It also explores the extent to which European populism impacts the European political landscape. The paper explores the notion of populism as an anti-EU movement, bent at dislodging and disintegrating the Union. It argues that the actions of the populist parties suggest otherwise; populist dramatization underscores EU's continuous evolution and transition instead of its disintegration.

            Content

            Author and article information

            Journal
            10.2307/j50009730
            polipers
            Policy Perspectives
            Pluto Journals
            1812-1829
            1812-7347
            1 January 2019
            : 16
            : 2 ( doiID: 10.13169/polipers.16.issue-2 )
            : 5-25
            Affiliations
            [* ]PhD, Assistant Professor/Head of Department, Centre for International Peace & Stability (CIPS), NUST Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies (NIPCONS), National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST), Islamabad.
            [** ]PhD, Visiting Lecturer, International Islamic University, Islamabad.
            Article
            polipers.16.2.0005
            10.13169/polipers.16.2.0005
            ebc632be-84b8-4179-a8b3-7bf0350b0d00
            © 2019, Institute of Policy Studies

            All content is freely available without charge to users or their institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission of the publisher or the author. Articles published in the journal are distributed under a http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

            History
            Custom metadata
            eng

            Education,Religious studies & Theology,Social & Behavioral Sciences,Law,Economics
            EU's Demise,EU-Exit, Brexit,Populism,EU Legitimacy,EU in Transition

            Footnotes

            1. Najimdeen Bakare, “EU in Transition or a Failed Project?” Policy Perspectives 11, no. 2 (2014):71-92, DOI: 10.13169/polipers.11.2.0071; and Wallace J. Thies, “Is the EU Collapsing?” International Studies Review 14, no. 2 (2012): 225-39, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2486.2012.01110.x.

            2. Bakare, “EU in Transition or a Failed Project?” Enrico Spolaore, “What Is European Integration Really About? A Political Guide for Economists,” The Journal of Economic Perspectives 27, no. 3 (2013): 125-144; and Philippe C. Schmitter, How to Democratize the European Union…and why Bother? (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2000).

            3. Douglas Webber, European Disintegration? The Politics of Crisis in the European Union, The European Union Series (London: Red Globe Press, 2018).

            4. George Soros, “The Disintegration of the EU is now Practically Irreversible,” South China Morning Post, June 27, 2016, https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1982113/disintegration-eu-now-practically-irreversible.

            5. Hans Vollaard, European Disintegration: A Search for Explanations, Palgrave Studies in European Union Politics (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018).

            6. Vivien Schmidt, “The Eurozone's Crisis of Democratic Legitimacy: Can the EU Rebuild Public Trust and Support for European Economic Integration?” (paper 15, European Commission, Brussels, 2015), DOI: 10.2765/5015.

            7. Diane Fromage and Ton van den Brink, “Democratic Legitimation of EU Economic Governance: Challenges and Opportunities for European Legislatures,” Journal of European Integration 40, no. 3 (2018):235-248 (236), https://doi.org/10.1080/07036337.2018.1450407.

            8. Erik Jones, “Towards a Theory of Disintegration,” Journal of European Public Policy 25, no. 3 (2018):440-451, https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2017.1411381.

            9. EC, Europeans and the EU Budget, Standard Eurobarometer 90, report (Brussels: European Commission, 2018).

            10. Andrew Moravcsik, “Preferences, Power and Institutions in 21st-Century Europe,” Journal of Common Market Studies 56, no. 7 (2018):1648-1674, http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jcms.12804; —, “In Defence of the Democratic Deficit: Reassessing Legitimacy in the European Union,” Journal of Common Market Studies 40, no. 3 (2002):603-624.

            11. Fromage and Brink, “Democratic Legitimation of EU Economic Governance: Challenges and Opportunities for European Legislatures,” 236.

            12. “Portugal Reaches Deal on EU and IMF Bail-out,” BBC News, May 4, 2011, https://www.bbc.com/news/business-13275470; and Phillip Inman, “IMF Clashes with Osborne over Refusal to Back Eurozone Bailout,” Guardian, April 17, 2011, https://www.theguardian.com/business/2011/apr/17/imf-clashes-osborne-eurozone-bailout.

            13. “Eurozone Seeks Bailout Funds from China,” BBC News, October 28, 2011, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-15489202.

            14. Ingrid Melander and Harry Papachristou, “China's Wen Offers to Buy Greek Debt,” Reuters, October 2, 2010, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-greece-china/chinas-wen-offers-to-buy-greek-debt-idUSTRE69112L20101002. China bought Greek debt and same financial bailout was offered to Portugal.

            15. “Euro Debt Crisis to Test EU-China Partnership,” EURACTIV, February 14 2012, https://www.euractiv.com/section/global-europe/news/euro-debt-crisis-to-test-eu-china-partnership/820179/; and Wolf Richter, “The Crisis isn't Bad Enough for Europe to Give in to China Yet,” Business Insider, November 14, 2011, https://www.businessinsider.com/eurozone-refuses-chinese-demands-turns-down-bailout-money-2011-11.

            16. Andrew Moravcsik, “Europe After the Crisis: How to Sustain a Common Currency,” Foreign Affairs 91, no 3 (2012):54-68 (58).

            17. Najimdeen Bakare, “The Breakdown of Socialisation and Political Re-assertiveness of European Far-Right,” Policy Perspectives 14, no. 2 (2017): 55-82, DOI: 10.13169/polipers.14.2.0055.

            18. Najimdeen Bakare, “Redefining Democracy and Political Assertiveness: A Constructivist Exposition of European Populism,” in Anti-Europeanism: Critical Perspectives towards the European Union, eds. Marco Baldassari, Emanuele Castelli, Matteo Truffeli and Giovanni Vezzani (Heidelberg: Springer, 2019), 57-73.

            19. Louise Fawcett and Andrew Hurrell, eds., Regionalism in World Politics: Regional Organization and International Order (Oxford: Oxford University, 1995).

            20. Stephan Lewandowsky, “Why is Populism Popular? A Psychologist Explains,” Conversation, June 21, 2016, https://theconversation.com/why-is-populism-popular-a-psychologist-explains-61319.

            21. Nathalie Brack and Nicholas Startin, “Introduction: Euroscepticism, from the Margins to the Mainstream,” International Political Science Review 36, no. 3, (2015): 239-249, https://doi.org/10.1177/0192512115577231.

            22. Gráinne de Búrca, “Is EU Supranational Governance a Challenge to Liberal Constitutionalism?” The University of Chicago Law Review 85, no. 2 (2018): 337-367, https://lawreview.uchicago.edu/sites/lawreview.uchicago.edu/files/04%20deBurca_S YMP_Online.pdf.

            23. James McCarthy, “Authoritarianism, Populism, and the Environment: Comparative Experiences, Insights, and Perspectives,” Annals of the American Association of Geographers 109, no. 2 (2019): 301-313, https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2018.1554393; and Gábor Halmai, “Populism, Authoritarianism and Constitutionalism,” German Law Journal, 20, no. 3 (2019):296-313, https://doi.org/10.1017/glj.2019.23; and Cas Mudde, Populist Radical Right Parties in Europe (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007).

            24. Brack and Startin, “Introduction: Euroscepticism, from the Margins to the Mainstream;” and Marianne Kneuer, “The Tandem of Populism and Euroscepticism: A Comparative Perspective in the Light of the European Crises,” Contemporary Social Science 14, no. 1 (2019): 26-42, https://doi.org/10.1080/21582041.2018.1426874.

            25. Mark Leonard, “The British Problem and What it Means for Europe” (brief ECFR/128, European Council on Foreign Relations, London, 2015), 1-12, https://www.ecfr.eu/page/-/ECFR_128_BREXIT_(March_-_final).pdf.

            26. Kate Lyons and Gordon Darroch, “Frexit, Nexit or Oexit? Who will be Next to Leave the EU,” Guardian, June 27, 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/27/frexit-nexit-or-oexit-who-will-be-next-to-leave-the-eu.

            27. Bakare, “EU in Transition or a Failed Project?”

            28. “Locality Politics” in Political Geography, World Economy, Nation-state and Locality, Peter J. Taylor and Colin Flint, 4th ed. (Harlow: Prentice Hall, 2000).

            29. Bakare, “The Breakdown of Socialisation and Political Re-assertiveness of European Far-Right.”

            30. FRA, “Second European Union Minorities and Discrimination Survey – Main Result,” (Vienna: European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, 2017, https://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra_uploads/fra-2017-eu-midis-ii-main-results_en.pdf.

            31. Kenneth Roth, “World's Autocrats Face Rising Resistance,” World Report 2019 (New York: Human Rights Watch, 2019), https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/world_report_download/hrw_world_report_2019.pdf.

            32. Kenneth Roth, The Pushback against the Populist Challenge (New York: Human Rights Watch, 2018), https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/world_report_download/201801world_report _web.pdf.

            33. Kenneth Roth, The Dangerous Rise of Populism: Global Attacks on Human Rights Values (New York: Human Right Watch – World Report 2017), https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/world_report_download/wr2017-web.pdf.

            34. Jasper Muis and Tim Immerzeel, “Causes and Consequences of the Rise of Populist Radical Right Parties and Movements in Europe,” Current Sociology Review 65, no. 6 (2017): 909–930, https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392117717294.

            35. Jeff Farrell, “Defend Europe: Anti-immigrant Ship Trying to Block Refugees from Crossing Mediterranean has Funding Cancelled,” Independent, August 14, 2017, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/defend-europe-finding-patreon-refugee-boats-mediterranean-sea-c-star-migrants-right-wing-ngo-rescue-a7891946.html.

            36. Tamás Boros and Zoltán Vasali, “The Rise of Euroscepticism and Possible Responses Prior to the 2014 European Parliament Elections” (paper, Foundation for European Progressive Studies, Brussels, 2013), https://www.policysolutions.hu/userfiles/elemzes/220/the_rise_of_euroskepticism.pdf.

            37. Frank Langfitt, “Here's Why Brexit Wasn't Followed by Frexit, Swexit or Nexit,” National Public Radio, April 26, 2019, https://www.npr.org/2019/04/26/715926169/heres-why-brexit-wasnt-followed-by-frexit-swexit-or-nexit.

            38. EC, Europeans and the EU Budget.

            39. European Commission, “Spring 2019 Standard Eurobarometer: Europeans Upbeat about the State of the European Union – Best Results in 5 Years.”

            40. Aristotle Kallis, “Mainstreaming of Radical Right,” Insight Turkey, 20, no. 3 (2018): 61-76.

            41. Bakare, “EU in Transition or a Failed Project?” 84.

            42. Schmitter, How to Democratize the European Union…and why Bother?

            43. Fromage and Brink, “Democratic Legitimation of EU Economic Governance: Challenges and Opportunities for European Legislatures,” 235.

            44. Ludger Kühnhardt, ed., Crises in European Integration: Challenges and Response, 1945-2005 (New York: Berghahn Books, 2009).

            45. Duarte Mendonca, Augusta Anthony and Ivana Kottasová, “David Cameron says Some People ‘Will Never Forgive’ him for Brexit,” CNN, September 14, 2019, https://edition.cnn.com/2019/09/14/uk/brexit-david-cameron-gbr-intl/index.html.

            46. Owen Bowcott, Ben Quinn and Severin Carrell, “Johnson's Suspension of Parliament Unlawful, Supreme Court Rules,” Guardian, September 24, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/law/2019/sep/24/boris-johnsons-suspension-of-parliament-unlawful-supreme-court-rules-prorogue.

            47. Libby Brooks and Poppy Noor, “‘I Feel Frustrated’: the Brexit View from Edinburgh and Hastings,” Guardian, March 15, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/mar/15/i-feel-frustrated-mps-leave-edinburgh-and-hastings-reeling-over-brexit-commons-remain-leave.

            48. Langfitt, “Here's Why Brexit Wasn't Followed by Frexit, Swexit or Nexit.”

            49. “No to Nexit: Dutch Most Likely to Vote to Stay in the EU,” Dutch News, April 25, 2019, https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2019/04/no-to-nexit-dutch-most-likely-to-vote-to-stay-in-the-eu/.

            50. Bruce Stokes, Richard Wike, and Dorothy Manevich, Post-Brexit, Europeans More Favourable Toward EU, report (Washington, D.C.: PEW Research Center, 2017), 4, https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2017/06/15/post-brexit-europeans-more-favorable-toward-eu/.

            51. Ibid., 3.

            52. Susi Dennison and Pawel Zerka, “The 2019 European Election: How Anti-Europeans Plan to Wreck Europe and What Can Be Done to Stop It” (paper, European Council on Foreign Relations, London, 2019), https://www.ecfr.eu/page/-/EUROPEAN_PARLIAMENT_FLASH_SCORECARD_.pdf.

            Comments

            Comment on this article