How can you have a democracy without a demos?

21 November 2007

Subjects:

Europe

Moderator: This is the final part of a three part exchange between David Marquand and Anthony Barnett. You can read the first part here and the second part here.

David Marquand (Oxford):

Dear Anthony

Thanks so much. I agree about the elitist nature of the European project; I think that was probably the fundamental reasons why the French and Dutch referendums went the way they did. This is the crucial point - I guess - on which pro-Europeans should focus: how can we make the European project democratic instead of technocratic? More than 20 years ago, just after I left the Commission, I wrote a book about this called ‘Parliament for Europe': various Italian students have credited me with coining the term ‘democratic deficit' in that book, but I don't myself think I did. Where I stole it from I can't now remember. But anyhow my solution - basically the emergence of a trans-European party system divided between ‘surpanationalists' and ‘anti-integrationists' (in effect an echo of the early US division into Federalists and Democrats) isn't really satisfactory. The difficulty goes very deep: ‘How can you have a democracy without a demos?' I don't know the answer to this. The only thing I am sure about is that a serious debate about a new constitutional settlement for the UK should embrace it.

Here's a thought (maybe yours originally?) The two really fundamental issues now confronting would-be constoitutional reformers are the English Question and the European Question. In his excellent Liberty speech Brown mentioned neither!

Very best to you too!

David

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