Germany and the European Union The politicization of European integration

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

For a long time, the European integration process was considered an elite project. Not only did the citizens of the member states show little interest in the integration process, but the governments were able to press ahead with European integration largely shielded from the public. For a long time, the lack of a public debate on European integration actually promoted integration. This has changed at least since the Maastricht Treaty (1992) and the transition from low to high politics, which brought the question of democratic legitimacy as an integration factor into play. Not only European politics, but also the political institutions (especially the European Commission and the European Court of Justice) and decision-making processes within the European Union (EU) were increasingly questioned and controversially discussed in public. Democratic legitimacy became a hard constraint of European politics. So far there is no agreement on the causes, characteristics and possible consequences of this development, which is discussed under the heading of 'politicization', although European studies have been dealing intensively with the (de-)politicization of European integration for several years. While some fear that the politicization of European politics will make business more difficult for political actors in many respects, others see politicization as a great opportunity to give the EU the democratic foundation it needs. In this elective seminar we want to deal systematically with the scientific discourse on the politicization of European integration and its consequences. The guiding question is to what extent public debates about European integration are to be understood as an expression of politicization, or whether they can be understood as a new form of social controversy and political dissidence. How can the increased politicization of European integration be conceptually grasped and explained? Is the increasing public debate about European integration having an impact on further integration and the democratic legitimacy of the EU? And what are the political consequences of this development? Can strategies of de-politicization of European integration also be observed? The elective seminar is structured as follows: First, we will familiarize ourselves with the course of European integration, the decision-making system and the channels of representation in the EU. We then discuss the concept of politicization, distinguish EU politicization research from research on related concepts (e.g. euroscepticism) and theories (integration and disintegration), and address the causes and consequences of politicization. To this end, we explain the authority transfer hypothesis from IR research and genuine EU explanatory approaches that emphasize the importance of political actors for politicization processes.