The Normativity of the European Union

Reconstructing the integration process with a view to the Eurozone crisis, Eriksen provides an insight into the conditions for integration and the nature of the EU. The book offers a novel account of what has made European integration possible based on a pragmatist approach. The force of reasons in [...]
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Reconstructing the integration process with a view to the Eurozone crisis, Eriksen provides an insight into the conditions for integration and the nature of the EU. The book offers a novel account of what has made European integration possible based on a pragmatist approach. The force of reasons in legally organized orders constitutes the core component of this approach. Eriksen identifies the main reasons for European integration as imperatives - as normative musts. The book explains why further integration has become a moral duty and why there is an expectation that the EU should be democratic. A novel model of the EU as a non-state government premised on a set of democratic innovations is suggested. This model, which has a cosmopolitan underpinning, is in line with changes in international relations brought about by the integration process; the conditioning of sovereignty upon the respect of democracy and human rights.