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An authoritarian turn in Europe and European Studies?

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  • Kreuder-Sonnen, Christian

Abstract

This contribution contends that the European Union (EU) has taken an authoritarian turn in the past crisis decade, which needs to be systematically addressed in EU studies. Starting from an ideal-typical conception of scenarios for the EU’s emergent political order, it argues that there has been a shift towards decisionist authority structures at both the domestic and the European level. On the one hand, the distinct European emergency politics that characterized the euro crisis have introduced traits of authoritarian rule in the EU’s supranational governance. On the other hand, democratic backsliding and the rise of nationalist populism have prompted authoritarian and anti-European tendencies at the national level. The article claims that the developments are linked and mutually reinforcing – building a ‘cycle of authoritarianism’. Given its dire consequences, EU studies need to reorient towards understanding the dynamic interplay of integration types and domestic politics and rethink questions of democratic legitimacy.

Suggested Citation

  • Kreuder-Sonnen, Christian, 2018. "An authoritarian turn in Europe and European Studies?," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 25(3), pages 452-464.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:espost:195923
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    5. Kreuder-Sonnen, Christian & Zangl, Bernhard, 2015. "Which post-Westphalia? International organizations between constitutionalism and authoritarianism," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 21(3), pages 568-594.
    6. Scharpf, Fritz Wilhelm, 2009. "Legitimacy in the multilevel European polity," MPIfG Working Paper 09/1, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    7. Christian Kreuder-Sonnen, 2016. "Beyond Integration Theory: The (Anti-)Constitutional Dimension of European Crisis Governance," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(6), pages 1350-1366, November.
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    Cited by:

    1. Manuel Hensmans, 2021. "Exploring the dark and bright sides of Internet democracy: Ethos-reversing and ethos-renewing digital transformation," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/321232, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    2. Hensmans, Manuel, 2021. "Exploring the dark and bright sides of Internet democracy: Ethos-reversing and ethos-renewing digital transformation," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    3. Kreuder-Sonnen, Christian & Zangl, Bernhard, 2020. "Zwischen Hoffen und Bangen: Zum Verhältnis von Autorität, Politisierung und Demokratisierung in internationalen Organisationen [Between hope and fear: On the relationship between authority, politic," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 27(1), pages 5-36.

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