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Democrats and the EU

The caricature of anti-EU types in the UK has, for the last thirty years or so at least, been of xenophobic, flag-waving middle class little Englanders who love the monarchy and aristocracy - relics of a bygone age. In the same period, pro-EU types have come to be stereotyped as wishy-washy liberals, looking at the utopian EU ideal while ignoring the grotty reality. Both are, naturally, massive oversimplifications.

But how, considering the fundamental lack of democracy within the EU, can any democratic-minded person possibly support the European Union? I count myself in that group, and am not sure if I have any rational answer.

openDemocracy Author

J Clive Matthews

A freelance writer and editor based in London, J Clive Matthews is Managing Editor of openDemocracy's EU and deliberative democracy blog, dLiberation.

In the real world he has co-authored two books and edited numerous others (ranging in subject-matter from movies to modern Russian politics), been acting editor on a glossy history and travel magazine, editorial consultant for a big name women's magazine, a freelance news editor for AOL UK, worked in both the House of Commons and the European Commission, and contributed to publications as diverse as Starburst and the Times Literary Supplement.

Best known as Nosemonkey online, he has been blogging about British and European politics daily for several years both at his own blog and sites like The Sharpener, General Election 2005 (now defunct), AgoraVox, France 24 and the Washington Post / Newsweek's Postglobal, as well as about movies for the BBC, and has been shortlisted for blog awards by the likes of the Guardian, Deutsche Welle International and the Weblog Awards, amongst others.

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