Europes Hidden Federalism
The hidden federal features of the European Union help explain the challenges of legitimacy, democracy and freedom that face an unfinished political community. Ideas about federalism and the reality of existing federal states cannot be sharply divided in an analysis of the EUs multilevel political order, but, so far, both scholars and major decision makers have shown interest only in the normal functioning of federal systems: ignoring the dilemma of the federations legitimate authority has resulted in an existential crisis for the EU which has become ever more manifest over recent years. This book employs a combination of political philosophy and political science, as well as federal philosophic ideas and their traces in real federal institutions to achieve the task of understanding the federal features of the EU governance system.
The first part of the work focuses on building an appropriate theoretical framework to explain the new meanings attached to familiar notions of democracy, legitimacy and citizenship in the context of a political community such as the EU. In the second part, the federal features of the EUs political system are examined in comparison to other current and historical federal perspectives such as the US, Switzerland, Yugoslavia and Germany. Through an analysis of the hidden federal aspects of the EU and the links between hidden federalism and the EUs legitimacy crisis, this book reveals the patterns that should be avoided and gives us guidelines that should be followed if the EU is to become democratic and politically united without jeopardising the state character of its members.
Bojan Kovaevi is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Belgrade. As a Swiss Government scholarship holder, he wrote his PhD thesis Federal features of the EU governance system at the Institute of Federalism, University of Fribourg, Switzerland. His research interests include history of political thought, modern political theory, political systems, theory of federalism and political theory of constitutionalism. At the Faculty of Political Sciences, he teaches the following courses: EU constitutionalism, Governing compound political communities, Managing crisis in the European Union, Political system of the European Union and Regionalism in the European Union. He has published two books in Serbian, Hidden Federalism. Federal Features of the European Integration Process [Skriveni Federalizam. Federalistiko iskustvo u procesima evropskih integracija] (Belgrade: Albatros plus, 2013) and The Role of the Regions in the EUs Political and Economic System [Mesto i uloga regiona u politikom i ekonomskom sistemu Evropske unije] (Belgrade: Slubeni glasnik, 2009). The book, Hidden Federalism. Federal Features of the European Integration Process (in Serbian), was shortlisted for the award Nikola Miloevi (Radio Belgrade 2), as one of the three best Serbian books in the field of philosophy, theory of literature and aesthetics in 2013.
Federalism Studies
Series Editor: Soren Dosenrode
The end of the Cold War profoundly altered the dynamics between and within the various states in Europe and the rest of the world, resulting in a resurgence of interest in the concept of federalism. This shift in balance has been further fuelled by the increase in the number of conflicts arising from the disaffection of the diverse ethnic or religious minorities residing within these states (e.g. Sudan, Iraq). Globalisation is forcing governments not only to work together, but also to reconsider their internal roles as guarantors of economic growth, with regions playing the major part. Federalism Studies offers academics a complete and in-depth understanding of federalism and intergovernmental relations in historical, theoretical and comparative contexts. Intended to be international and interdisciplinary in scope, the books in the series are designed to build a common framework for the constructive analysis of federalism. Contributions are welcome on topics which explore federalism as a theory; as a political system and as a form of conflict management.
For a full list of titles in this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.com/Federalism-Studies/book-series/ASHSER1258
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Europes Hidden Federalism
Federal Experiences of European Integration
Bojan Kovaevi
First published 2017
by Routledge
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2017 Bojan Kovaevi
The right of Bojan Kovaevi to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Names: Kovaevi, Bojan, 1980- author.
Title: Europes hidden federalism: federal experiences of European integration/Bojan Kovaevi.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge, 2017. |
Series: Federalism studies | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016048337 | ISBN 9781472468574 (hardback) | ISBN 9781315581118 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: Federal governmentEuropean Union countries. | Political participationEuropean Union countries. | European Union.
Classification: LCC JN30 .K679 2017 | DDC 341.242/2dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016048337
ISBN: 9781472468574 (hbk)
ISBN: 9781315581118 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India
For my parents, for Slava and for Januka
The study of federalism is finally coming back to EU studies. Contrary to mainstream approaches that continue to stress the sui generis or exceptional nature of the EU, Kova?evi?s book merits the highest consideration for the successful attempt to conceptualize the EU through the perspective of comparative federalism.
Sergio Fabbrini, LUISS Guido Carli, Rome.
This book gives an exhaustive and critical evaluation of the situation of the European Union. It compares the achievement of the EU with the achievements of other federal experiences (USA, Swiss, Yugoslavia, but also Germany) and introduces the interesting idea that it is useful to compare also with unsuccessful federations such as Yugoslavia. The author succeeds in presenting the construction of the EU in the light of the federal theory and his critical methodological claim against the mainstream of political science leads him to rehabilitate the field of political philosophy and legal theory with true success.