Debating the EU's Raison d'Être: On the Relation between Legitimacy and Justice. (30th November 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Sangiovanni, Andrea
• Other Names: Claassen Rutger guestEditor.; Gerbrandy Anna guestEditor.; Princen Sebastiaan guestEditor.; Segers Mathieu guestEditor.
• Is Part Of: Journal of common market studies. Volume 57:Number 1(2019)
• Page Start: 13
• Page End: 27
• Publication Date: 2018-11-30
• Subjects: European Union -- legitimacy -- justice; European Economic Community countries -- Periodicals; European Union countries -- Periodicals; Periodicals; 382.9142
• DOI: 10.1111/jcms.12819
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0021-9886

Abstract

Abstract: Since the eurozone, refugee and Brexit crises, it has become evident that the EU contributes to divergence among member states and inequality within them. It is also evident that the days of permissive consensus, integration by stealth, and trust in promises of peace and prosperity are long gone. Publics across the EU now wonder why the EU ought to garner their respect, and what role, if any, the EU should play in mitigating both cross‐ and intra‐national socioeconomic inequalities. They wonder, that is, what gives the EU legitimacy beyond securing a growth dividend and protecting against another European war, and what criteria of justice we ought to use in assessing the distributional consequences of integration. This contribution articulates a conception of legitimacy that has received very little attention in the literature, namely telic legitimacy, distinguishes it from conventional criteria of 'input' and 'output' legitimacy, explains its usefulness in addressing the EU's crisis in confidence, and outlines its relation to principles of justice.