A Republican Europe of States: a conversation with Richard Bellamy

Richard Bellamy is a Director of the Max Weber Programme at the European University Institute (Florence) and Professor of Political Science at UCL (on leave). He is also Visiting Professor at the University of Exeter. Richard is a an expert on democratic theory and constitutionalism and a leading figure in the normative study of the European Union

His new book, A Republican Europe of States: Cosmopolitanism, Intergovernmentalism and Democracy in the EU, was published in January 2019 by Cambridge University Press. Combining international political theory and EU studies, it provides an original account of the democratic legitimacy of international organisations. He proposes a new interpretation of the EU's democratic failings and how they might be addressed. Drawing on the republican theory of freedom as non-domination, it proposes a way to combine national popular sovereignty with the pursuit of fair and equitable relations of non-domination among states and their citizens. Applying this approach to the EU, Bellamy shows that its democratic failings lie not with the democratic deficit at the EU level but with a democratic disconnect at the member state level. Rather than shifting democratic authority to the European Parliament, this book argues that the EU needs to reconnect with the different 'demoi' of the member states by empowering national parliaments in the EU policy-making process.

The event will be followed by a drinks reception. 
Hosted by the UCL European Institute and the UCL Institute of Advanced Studies.

Image credit: View of the Roman forum (CC)