chapter 13
...................................................................................................................................................THE CHALLENGE
OF EUROPEAN
UNION
...................................................................................................................................................richard bellamy
1 Introduction
.........................................................................................................................................................................................
Political theorists and scientists alike have viewed European integration as
a laboratory for exploring how far the nation state, and the forms of dome-
stic and international politics to which it gave rise, has been aVected by the
various processes associated with globalization. Debate has focused on whether
the European Union (EU) has transformed the old politics of nation states to
produce a new kind of polity, or merely adapted the old politics to new
circumstances. As a result, theorists have had to confront the underlying
empirical assumptions of much normative political theory—in particular,
the degree to which our contemporary understanding of democratic politics
presupposes the nation state. If it does, and the EU represents a signiWcant
move beyond national politics, then we may need a parallel conceptual trans-
formation of our views of constitutionalism, citizenship, representation, and
- I am grateful to the editors, Andreas Føllesdal, Percy Lehning, and Albert Weale for helpful
comments on an earlier draft.