The European Social Contract and the European Public Sphere
Author(s)
Bredt, Stephan
Abstract
The possible existence of a European democracy does not depend on the prerequisite of a homogeneous public sphere but on the understanding of the relationship between the normative basis of a European democracy – here a social contract – the structure of the European public sphere and the corresponding institutions. The normative concept of democracy as expressed in social contract theory is neither bound to the city-state nor the nation-state, but can be transferred to the European level. To realise the normative aims of the social contract the democratic institutions have to be – and were in the city – and the nation state – adapted to the structure of the respective public sphere. Two institutional characteristics of the democratic European polity could correspond to the heterogeneous European public sphere: (1) a cooperation of institutions with clearly separated and limited competences – contrary to the ideal-type sovereign institutions with broad competences in the nation-state, and (2) the policy field-oriented structure – contrary to the more uniform and functional structure of democratic institutions in the nation states.
