Power, Legitimacy and the European Union

The Brexit referendum was famously won on a claim that the UK had insufficient control of its own laws. Yet, in the face of issues larger than any one democracy: climate change, pandemics, wars; banking crises, Surely we need international bodies to deal with those problems?

This new book in the European Union Series tackles either side of this debate, equipping students with the key normative and sociological theories that they need to understand where the EU derives its legitimacy from and what this means for the EU. This book answers:

- What right does the EU have to exercise political power?
- Is the EU necessary for the proper democratic functioning of its members?
- How does legitimacy shape the sustainability and institutional design of the Union?
- Which is more justifiable: uniform differentiated forms of European integration?

This book shows how the literature on political legitimacy can help us think more clearly about the European Union. It develops new understanding of how the legitimacy of the EU and its member state democracies might depend on one another. It shows how – contrary to the Brexit mantra of regaining control - some kind of European Union may be needed if citizens are to use their own national democracies to accord one another rights and obligations and to control their own laws as equals.