The Crisis of the European Union: A Response
In the midst of the current crisis that is threatening to derail the
historical project of European unification, Jürgen Habermas has been one of the
most perceptive critics of the ineffectual and evasive responses to the global
financial crisis, especially by the German political class. This extended essay
on the constitution for Europe represents Habermas’s constructive engagement
with the European project at a time when the crisis of the eurozone is
threatening the very existence of the European Union. There is a growing
realization that the European treaty needs to be revised in order to deal with
the structural defects of monetary union, but a clear perspective for the future
is missing. Drawing on his analysis of European unification as a process in
which international treaties have progressively taken on features of a
democratic constitution, Habermas explains why the current proposals to
transform the system of European governance into one of executive federalism is
a mistake. His central argument is that the European project must realize its
democratic potential by evolving from an international into a cosmopolitan
community. The opening essay on the role played by the concept of human dignity
in the genealogy of human rights in the modern era throws further important
light on the philosophical foundations of Habermas’s theory of how democratic
political institutions can be extended beyond the level of nation-states.
Now that the question of Europe and its future is once again at the
centre of public debate, this important intervention by one of the greatest
thinkers of our time will be of interest to a wide readership.
