Responsiveness and Responsibility in European Multilevel Governance

forthcoming

The European Union is a promoter of both democracy and good governance. The harmonious coexistence of these two, however, is not a given. In political science it is well known that responding to democratic demands can be in sharp tension with the institutional responsibilities of good problem-solving-oriented governance. This is particularly true in a multilevel setting where governance authority is shared between supra- and national levels, and even more true in times of economic crises. Even though the EU is a complex multilevel polity and has gone through unsettling economic crises during the past fifteen years, it is still in many ways a beacon of democracy and good governance. For example, Eurobarometer data show that the EU conjures up to an overall positive image among its citizens. When one does not take into account of the aforementioned difficulties of combining democracy with multilevel governance, it is tempting to look critically at these data on citizens’ view of the EU and democratic satisfaction, and to focus mostly on the empty half of the glass (i.e., on the percentage of citizens that have a negative view of the EU). By grounding itself in theories of democratic governance, this project is instead more positively puzzled by the full half of the glass. Considering the difficulties of combining democratic responsiveness with governing responsibilities, and especially considering that this task becomes more difficult in multilevel settings and during economic crises, this project engages with the question of how does the EU succeed in developing collectively binding policies while at the same time maintaining relatively high levels of democratic support. By developing valuable answers to this question, this project will offer teachings on the European Union as a successful case of multilevel governance on a continental scale. As such, it will contribute to the resonance of the successful European experience of democratic supranational governance.