Transnational Democracy And Its Limits

In recent years, the widening and deepening of European integration has posed a great challenge to the traditional notion of democratic governance based on national territories. The democratic legitimacy of the European Union (EU) has been heatedly debated on among policy makers and academia. From the Constitutional treaty to the Treaty of Lisbon, this round of treaty reforms in the EU largely follow its traditional trajectory of incrementalism in substantive policy areas, but manifest more innovations in the development of transnational democracy, power relations, and regional identification within the EU. Theoretically, the European constitution-making, as an unprecedented transnational political, legal and social process, will provide valuable empirical facts for the testimony and/or falsification of relevant hypotheses on the globalization and regional integration. Hence the study has the potential for interdisciplinary theoretical innovations, in which a bridge will be built between different intellectual traditions, e.g. international relations, international law and normative democratic theories. It may also help establish links between that world of"what it is"and that of"what ought to be"in the theorizing endeavor in relevant disciplines. From policy perspectives, some lessons may be drawn for China, the world, and the EU itself to address some pressing challenges in the era of globalization and regionalization.The research is characterized with its interdisciplinary nature and theoretical synthesis, which largely result from the complexity and experimentation in the EU constitutional process. This middle ground approach will enable us to overcome both the realists'pessimism and the postmodernists'Utopian thinking: on the one hand, the possibility of further institutional innovations in the EU will be explored; on the other hand, the constraints they face will be sufficiently assessed. In the empirical studies, the behaviors of EU institutions, national governments, civil societies and voters are examined separately with an emphasis on the interactions at different levels. Some first-hand data from the publications of the EU institutions, national governments and NGOs will be collected through relevant websites and other sources. Documented links between EU experiences and policy advice for China will also be a major concern of the dissertation.In the introductory part, the concept"transnational democracy"in the European studies is defined on the basis of extensive literature reviews:"transnational democracy in the EU is a term in the broad sense to denote the theories and practices in the EU governance at the EU level or within its member states". Unlike most Western researchers who are merely concerned with individuals'participation in the European politics, the author argues that sufficient attention should be directed to the democratic practice based on the principle of sovereignty equality among EU member states.The dissertation comprises eight chapters. In Chapter One, a theoretical framework will be provided for the understanding of transnational democracy in the European constitutional process. Given the tradition of the close links between theoretical and policy studies in the European studies, this endeavor to theorize the European constitutional experiment will be impossible without such a theoretical synthesis . In the assumptions made in the chapter, I will try to generalize and reflect on the on-going realities in Europe rather than confine myself to one specific discipline or a paradigm. Thus the history of the democratic development in the European integration will be traced to provide a solid basis. Theory, which is developed and calibrated from the real-world circumstances in the EU, is not seen as a benchmark but a method or a source for wisdom. In this chapter, several basic assumptions are made about the development of transnational democracy in the constitutional process. First, to understand the formation of transnational democracy it is necessary to make a synthesis between rational choice and social construction. Second, in a foreseeable future representative democracy continues to be the major organizational principle for the EU even though deliberative democratic and participatory elements increasingly come to complement the representative ones. Moreover, the reconciliation between economic liberalism and social democracy may serve as an important clue for the understanding of EU democracy. Finally, the development of EU democracy is constrained with diverse interests and political cultures of its member states, the thin European identity and some negative factors in the international political environment.In Chapters 2 to 5, the empirical studies will be made on the European constitutional process. Chapter Two traces the constitutional process chronologically, which includes its historical context, institutional innovations and recent setbacks. A textual analysis is made based on the draft constitutional treaty and the Treaty of Lisbon. Chapters Three to Five examine the behaviors and influence of member states in the constitutional process with a particular emphasis on their impact on the development of European transnational democracy. For analytical clarity, the dissertation will divide the EU member states into three categories and discuss them separately, i.e. big powers, medium and small members and new CEECs. Germany, France, the UK, Ireland, and Poland are selected for case studies. In the studies of individual member states, some key policy areas including institutional reforms and European social policy are particularly examined to assess their influence in the formation of national preference.Chapters 6 to 8 intend to provide some tentative policy advice for China. First, I will assess the impact of the constitutional process on the project of European integration in general and China-EU relations in particular. Second, I will try to draw some useful lessons from the EU experience for the regional and global governance. Some lessons for China's participation in the East Asian cooperation will be particularly discussed. Finally, I will explore what lessons China can learn from the EU model in its development of Socialist democratic politics of Chinese characteristics. These elements include Europe's theory and practice of multi-dimensional democracy such as its emphasis on social dialogue, social partnership and deliberative democracy. Given the quasi-federal nature of the EU polity, its diversity in democratic models and institutional innovations is highly relevant for the future constitutional development of Hong Kong and Macao as well as the possible federal arrangement after the final reunification of China. In the medium and long terms, the democratic experiments in the EU will be of great policy significance for China. Based on the theoretical and empirical research above, I, in the concluding remarks, argue that the development of transnational democracy in Europe can neither follow the cosmopolitan and communitarian models designed by those normative scholars, nor duplicate the democratic practices on the level of nation states, and that the development of European transnational democracy is heavily constrained by some obstacles at global, European and national levels. The future of European transnational democracy largely rests on whether a regional culture and identity can be constructed incrementally while diverse national preferences are respected. In this process, it is important to take into sufficient account the gap on European integration between elites and general public at both national and European levels so that a middle ground for multi-level deliberation could be found. Moreover, the empirical facts and theoretical developments in the European constitutional process may serve as an important source for the theoretical innovations on global and regional co-operations in the discipline of international politics. In both international cooperation and domestic governance, it is important to expand the areas where interests of various countries or social groups meet so that we can fulfill our goals of building a harmonious domestic world with sustained peace and sustained prosperity as well as a harmonious society with fairness and justice. In this process, the European experiments as well as their limits can provide important lessons and wisdom for scholars and policy-makers in China.