Europe's Crisis of Legitimacy

This volume examines the interrelationship between democratic legitimacy at the European level and the ongoing Eurozone crisis that began in 2010.

If your source of legitimacy comes from outputs - 'what have you done for me lately' - and those outputs turn negative, you turn to how you do things for legitimacy - 'sticking to the rules.' But as the EU discovered from 2011-2015, doing so will not solve an output problem. Instead, to solve that output problem EU governors increasingly 'reinterpreted the rules' while proclaiming that they were not doing so, which led publics to question their legitimacy still further.Vivien Schmidt describes this 'slippery slope' of declining legitimacy for the EU perfectly

Autorentext
Vivien A. Schmidt is Jean Monnet Professor of European Integration, Professor of International Relations, and Professor of Political Science at Boston University. During a distinguished career she has published a number of volumes including, Democracy in Europe (OUP, 2006) and The Futures of European Capitalism (OUP, 2002).

Inhalt

• 1: Introduction: Europe's Crisis of Legitimacy

• PART I Conceptualizing Legitimacy in the EU

• 2: Conceptualizing Legitimacy: Input, Output, and Throughput

• 3: Split-Level Legitimacy and Politicization in EU Governance

• PART II Throughput Legitimacy in the Eurozone Crisis

• 4: Governing by Rules and Ruling by Numbers in the Eurozone Crisis

• 5: Council Governance: 'Dictatorship' or 'Deliberative Body'?

• 6: European Central Bank Governance: ' Hero' or 'Ogre'?

• 7: Commission Governance: 'Ayatollahs of Austerity' or 'Ministers of Moderation'

• 8: European Parliament Governance: From 'Talking Shop' to 'Equal Partner'?

• PART III Output and Input Legitimacy in the Eurozone Crisis

• 9: Policy Effectiveness and Performance in the Eurozone Crisis

• 10: National 'Politics against Policy' in the Eurozone Crisis

• Conclusion: How to (Re) Envision Eurozone Governance: Beyond Governing by Rules and Ruling by Numbers