Market building, polity building, and community in the European Union. IHS Political Science Series 60, February 1999

Melchior, Josef (1999) Market building, polity building, and community in the European Union. IHS Political Science Series 60, February 1999. [Working Paper]

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Abstract

The central argument detailed in the paper is that European integration will only become sustainable in the long run when the problem of developing a political community of European citizens is directly addressed. Contrasting the historical development of the West-European nation states with the conditions in the EC/EU the conclusion is drawn that a community of European citizens cannot and need not be based on a programme of state and nation building. Instead, a political community of European citizens could be founded on more recent political achievements and the integrative mechanisms of modern federally organized political systems in general: common citizenship, a democratic and participatory structure of governance, a more balanced distribution of labour between the national and the European level in substantial policy areas, combined with a pro-active strategy of protecting multinational diversity and tolerance.

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