Citizens in Europe: Essays on Democracy, Constitutionalism and European Integration [Hardcover]

What kind of unity can fragmented and post-national societies achieve in and through the EU? These essays, by two prominent German scholars from the fields of democratic constitutionalism and political sociology, ask questions designed to elicit some answers. 'It is an exciting experience to follow these two brilliant minds on their intellectual itinerary towards path-breaking interpretations of the present fate of democracy in Europe. Exploring the political order dilemmas of capitalist democracies, the authors address moral and institutional prerequisites on which the deepening of European integration depends.This interdisciplinary collection of essays by a constitutionalist and a political sociologist examines how fragmented societies can be held together by appropriate and effective constitutional arrangements providing for bonds of democratic citizenship. Exploring the political order dilemmas of capitalist democracies, the authors address moral and institutional prerequisites on which the deepening of European integration depends. The desirability of such deepening is currently contested, with the membership of some states (and their compliance with the spirit of the Union's treaties) at stake. The authors do not consider the renationalisation of Europe to be a feasible (and even less so a desirable) way out of Europe's current malaise. Yet whatever the way out, charting it calls not just for the vision and imagination of political elites but also for the intellectual efforts of social scientists. With this book, Preu? and Offe contribute to those efforts.Key Features: original insights on the nature of the European crisis analysis of how fragmented societies can be held together by appropriate constitutional arrangements how state sovereignty and federal structures can be merged account of the moral prerequisites and resources of democratic polities dilemmas of political order under democratic capitalismChapter One  The Unions Course: Between a SuplcÅ