In Pursuit of Democratic Legitimacy? Niklas Luhmann and the European Parliament Elections of 2014

Master's Thesis , 2015 , 77 Pages , Grade: 1,3

Politics - Topic: European Union

This thesis analyses the European Parliament elections of 2014 through the lens of Niklas Luhmann's theory of legitimacy. These elections differed from earlier ones due to the introduction of Spitzenkandidaten, lead candidates, for the position of Commission President by the majority of European party groups. In order to provide the historical context for the elections of 2014, this thesis presents the development of the European Parliament and argues that the search for political legitimacy at the European level was the driving force behind this development, including the recent introduction of
Spitzenkandidaten. The thesis stipulates that Luhmann's work on legitimacy in particular has undeservedly been mostly overlooked in European studies. In order to test the applicability of his work in the context of European democracy, five themes are developed that collectively characterise Luhmann's legitimacy theory. These themes are used as the basis for a
thematic analysis of documents of the Spitzenkandidaten idea's main proponents, these being the European Parliament and Commission and the Spitzenkandidaten of the three parties that are considered to be the most supportive of European integration – the European People's Party, EPP, the Party of European Socialists, PES, and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, ALDE. The document analysis confirms the hypothesis that Luhmann's work deserves far more attention from European integration studies than it has so far received.

Table of contents

Introduction

1) The European Parliament - an Institutional History

2) EU Governance and the Spitzenkandidaten

3) Legitimacy in the EU

4) Niklas Luhmann on Legitimacy
Systems
Legitimacy
Elections
Themes

5) Spitzenkandidaten Documents: A Thematic Analysis
Thematic Analysis I: European Parliament
Thematic Analysis II: European Commission
Thematic Analysis III: European Political Parties
Thematic Analysis: Concluding Remarks

Conclusion

Bibliography

Appendices
A) European Parliament
1) European Parliament resolution, 22 November 2012
2) Martin Schulz Brussels speech, 16 July 2014
3) Klaus Welle Frankfurt speech, 20 September 2013
B) European Commission
1) European Commission communication, 12 March 2013
2) State of the Union 2012 Address, 12 September 2012
C) European Political Parties
1)I. Guy Verhofstadt in European Parliament, 2 July 2014
1) II. Guy Verhofstadt in European Parliament, 15 July 2014
2) Martin Schulz Rome speech, 1 March 2014
3) Jean-Claude Juncker s.l. speech, 23 April 2014

• College: Queen's University Belfast (School of Politics, International Studies and Philosophy)
• Grade: 1,3
• Author: Liam Fitzgerald (Author)
• Year: 2015
• Pages: 77
• Catalog Number: V310347
• ISBN (eBook): 9783668088276
• ISBN (Book): 9783668088283
• Language: English
• Tags: pursuit, democratic, legitimacy, niklas, luhmann, european, parliament, elections