What is the way out of the trilemma?

The only way out of this aspect of the trilemma toward a more virtuous circle is not just more and better output discourse and narratives as well as greater representative input to lengthen the“shadow of politics” but also remedies involving throughput, to change the institutional rules that putregulatory output beyond the reach of representative and deliberative input or pluralist and deliberative throughput.

What is the main problem for throughput legitimacy?

The continued use of the unanimity rule for treaties, in which the ability of any member-state to veto any agreement can lead to treaty delays, dilution or deadlock, means that even incremental change in an everenlarging Union may be stymied in the future – to the detriment not only of throughput legitimacy but also output, since new policies will not be agreed, and input, since a couple of veto-imposing member states can frustrate the desires of the large majority (Schmidt 2009a: 26-8).

What would be the way to improve the national level inputs?

But national governments would need also to improve the national level inputs by bringing civil society into national formulation processes focused on EU decision-making.

What is the way to improve the EU’s output acceptance?

Increasing pluralist throughput could therefore improve output acceptance at the same time that reforming the unanimity and uniformity rules might help with input as well, by enabling the majority demands to work their way through the process.

What is the reason why politicians are reluctant to spend their scarce political resources on the EU?

Politicians are reluctant to expend their scarce political resources on the EU, given political incentive structures and institutional rewards that push national politicians to tout their national level successes and to turn popular EU policies into national ones, since national politicians are elected by national electorates.

How can the EU be a democratizing force in its neighborhood?

This is important not only for the EU to continue to be a democratizing and socializing force in its neighborhood but also to ensure that the policy decisions are thereby the most legitimate (in input terms) and most effective (in output terms) – not only for countries on the periphery but also for countries like Norway and Switzerland, which have a major national democratic deficit as a result of the lack of institutional engagement.

What is the role of the EP in facilitating greater input?

Beyond this, greater parliamentarization is imperative, for example, by facilitating greater EP input at the beginning stages of policy formulation, by more fully connecting the EP to national parliaments – now facilitated by the Lisbon Treaty – and by ensuring greater citizen access to the EP.

What is the likely to build the thickest of identities?

The second is the normative discourse about the EU as a bordered values-based community, most identified with France and Germany, which is also most likely to build the thickest of identities, since it most closely approximates the kind found in nation-states based on common values, solidarity and clear borders.

What is the main reason for the failures of constructive input legitimacy?

The failures of constructive input legitimacy, thus, result from the primacy of national political ideas and discourse and the paucity of ideas and discourse about the EU.

What are the main problems with regard to the EP’s role?

There are also problems with regard to the EP’s role, since it has little influence over initiation, no connection to comitology and so far also little connection to national parliaments – although this could change for the better, given that a procedure for consultation was written into the Lisbon Treaty.

(Open Access) Democracy and Legitimacy in the European Union Revisited: Input, Output and ‘Throughput’ (2013) | Vivien A. Schmidt













KFG 

KFG Working Paper Series

Edited by the Kolleg-Forschergruppe “

            Kolleg-Forschergruppe   















Kolleg-Forschergruppe (KFG) “





















Germany





















             

   













r



         









KFG 

Contents

         

  

        

3.1 Instuonal Regulatory Output 

3.2 Construcve Discursive Output 

        

4.1 Instuonal Representave Input 

4.2 Construcve Deliberave Input 

       

5.1 Instuonal Pluralist Throughput 

5.2 Instuonal Rules-Based Throughput 

5.3 Construcve Deliberave Throughput 



      

          



 















demos



              

output 

for  input

byof

throughput 



with 













forby and ofwith 

            









             





    





 

jour xe







Democracy and Legitimacy in the European Union Revisited: Input, Output and ‘Throughput’

Figures

Citations

Organizing for Crisis Management: Building Governance Capacity and Legitimacy

Non-state actors in global climate governance: from Copenhagen to Paris and beyond

The legitimacy and legitimation of international organizations: introduction and framework

Crisis of trust: Socio-economic determinants of Europeans’ confidence in government:

A Problem-Based Approach to Democratic Theory

References

A Systems Analysis of Political Life

Between Facts and Norms: Contributions to a Discourse Theory of Law and Democracy

Normative Power Europe: A Contradiction in Terms?

Discursive Institutionalism: The Explanatory Power of Ideas and Discourse

Games Real Actors Play: Actor-centered Institutionalism In Policy Research

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