Democratic Deficits in Europe: The Overlooked Exclusiveness of Nation-States and the Positive Role of the European Union

Journal article

Joachim Blatter, Samuel D. Schmid, Andrea Blättler
Journal of Common Market Studies, vol. 55(3), 2017, pp. 449-467

DOI: 10.1111/jcms.12491

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APA Click to copy
Blatter, J., Schmid, S. D., & Blättler, A. (2017). Democratic Deficits in Europe: The Overlooked Exclusiveness of Nation-States and the Positive Role of the European Union. Journal of Common Market Studies, 55(3), 449–467. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.12491

Chicago/Turabian Click to copy
Blatter, Joachim, Samuel D. Schmid, and Andrea Blättler. “Democratic Deficits in Europe: The Overlooked Exclusiveness of Nation-States and the Positive Role of the European Union.” Journal of Common Market Studies 55, no. 3 (2017): 449–467.

MLA Click to copy
Blatter, Joachim, et al. “Democratic Deficits in Europe: The Overlooked Exclusiveness of Nation-States and the Positive Role of the European Union.” Journal of Common Market Studies, vol. 55, no. 3, 2017, pp. 449–67, doi:10.1111/jcms.12491.

BibTeX Click to copy

@article{blatter2017a,
  title = {Democratic Deficits in Europe: The Overlooked Exclusiveness of Nation-States and the Positive Role of the European Union},
  year = {2017},
  issue = {3},
  journal = {Journal of Common Market Studies},
  pages = {449-467},
  volume = {55},
  doi = {10.1111/jcms.12491},
  author = {Blatter, Joachim and Schmid, Samuel D. and Blättler, Andrea}
}

This article grew out of a seminar paper that Andrea C. Blättler and I produced in a seminar on ‘The Quality of Democracies and the Quality of Democracy Measurement Tools’ taught by Joachim Blatter author at the University of Lucerne. It was awarded the JCMS 2017 Best Article Prize.

Abstract
With the help of the Immigrant Inclusion Index (IMIX), a quantitative tool for measuring the electoral inclusion of immigrants, we demonstrate that European democracies are much more exclusive than they should be. All normative theories of democracy share the conviction that it is imperative that democracies include long-term immigrant residents into the demos – either by granting citizenship or by introducing alien voting rights. But even the 20 most established and stable democracies within the EU are far from fully realizing the ideal of ‘universal suffrage’. This is true independently of whether we count in- and excluded people in numerical terms, or whether we evaluate the relevant laws and regulations. Therefore, we diagnose a substantial democratic deficit on the level of European nation-states. By requiring its member states to enfranchise non-national EU citizens on the local level, the EU, for once, plays a positive role in reducing one of the most fundamental democratic deficits in times of migration.

Samuel D. Schmid

Democratic Deficits in Europe: The Overlooked Exclusiveness of Nation-States and the Positive Role of the European Union

Journal article

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