Izlaganje sa skupa
JÜRGEN HABERMAS AND EUROPEAN INTEGRATION
Hans-Otto Mühleisen
; Fakultet filozofije i društvenih znanosti Sveučilišta u Augsburgu, Augsburg, Njemačka
Sažetak
The author analyzes recent Habermas’ writings on the process of European integration and the new international political order. Having for a long time ignored the issues of foreign policy, in his recent works and speeches Habermas has increasingly turned to these topics. The supranational level is becoming important both due to the more severe limitations to state sovereignty in the process of globalization, and because of the development of new mechanisms of international cooperation and the new regional economic-political integrations. In his theory of democracy at the national level, he emphasizes its deliberative character and shows public communication as the central sphere of mediation between the informal (private) opinions and the institutions of the formation of political will. However, today it is necessary to go beyond the boundaries of the nation-state and establish the parallel mechanisms of political deliberation and decision-making at the international level. The most important step in that direction are regional integrations (in Europe, naturally, it is the European Union). The regional integrations must supplement the UN institutions to compensate for the loss of the ability to govern at the national level and to create a counterbalance to global capitalism. In this context it is important to get the answers to a certain crisis of the EU identity. The European Union today is often seen as a mechanism of bureaucratic management and restrictive regulation, instead of as a guarantor of good life. Habermas thinks that Europe should fiocus on the guarantees of fundamental rights and values such as the right to education, social justice, autonomy and participation. For that purpose, the European Union should develop into a federal state. To the Euro-skeptical objection that Europe lacks a state-building nation i.e a unified nation as the foundation of political community, Habermas responds that the European civil society, European public and the common political culture - if, indeed, they can be built – are sufficient for Europe’s political unity. The process of designing and adopting the European Constitution has strengthened all three components. The Constitution also helps to explain the objectives of the European integration (boundaries of EU’s expansion, interrelationship among levels of goverment) and to enhance legitimacy by creating a fundamental legal act, in the design of which European citizens are involved. For Habermas, the crisis of European unity caused by the disunity of the member-countries’ governments over the American war in Iraq is an opportunity. The mobilization of the European civil society against that war (as demonstrated by the pan-European peace demonstrations of 15 February 2003) and the creation of the model of the procedurally wellordered international politics and cooperation which boosts economic development and social security serve as the counterbalance to the American unilateralism and the aspiration for domination. Habermas supports the model of “multispeed Europe” and thinks that it will not cause a rift in the EU, but can as a matter of fact dynamize the process of European integration. The author concludes that Habermas’ political views of the European integration and international politics contain a remarkable dose of utopism. However, the attempt to see beyond the limitations of the existing political reality is a must if these limitations are to be overcome.
Ključne riječi
Europe; European Union; European Constitution; nation-state; democracy; civil society; public; international politics; USA
Hrčak ID:
21814
URI
Datum izdavanja:
25.7.2005.
Posjeta: 3.220 *