Cultural Politics Seminar: Interdisciplinary Perspectives (In Person)
Date and Time
Location
"The Hijacking of Europe: How National Leaders Have Stolen the EU Project and How to Reclaim It"
Speaker:
Alberto Alemanno, Jean Monnet Professor of European Union Law, HEC Paris; Visiting Scholar, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Democracy Fellow, Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, Harvard Kennedy School.
Contact:
Charles Gaillard
cgaillard@fas.harvard.edu
Chair:
Panagiotis Roilos, Faculty Associate. George Seferis Professor of Modern Greek Studies, Department of the Classics; Professor of Comparative Literature, Department of Comparative Literature, Harvard University.
Abstract:
After seventy years of unprecedented socioeconomic integration, the European Union continues to evolve through processes that largely neglect people’s input. This is by no means new. Yet the problem is only set to worsen. Amid the continent’s epochal transformations, the EU is expected to gain — not lose — power, thus increasing its influence over its citizens without offering them a corresponding expansion of democratic opportunities.
This paper intends first to explore the neglected historical and structural conditions that have hindered democratization in the EU. It analyzes the role played by national political leaders, showing how they have systematically prevented the emergence of an EU-wide political competition — and genuine European political party system — capable of fostering a genuine transnational space for debate and dialogue across borders rather than within them. Secondly, the paper presents a set of proposals to overcome these structural obstacles to EU democratization. These intend to restore and revamp the original democratization dynamics expected from the politicization of the EU by ensuring that this time they may transcend national borders.