The overarching question that informs this chapter is whether the Laeken process (after the Laeken Declaration of 2001 that gave the Convention its mandate) has managed to come up with a solution to the EUs legitimacy deficit. My focus here is on the Convention and I seek to establish which...

The article discusses the use of case studies in EU literature, applying a crude distinction between case studies i) using theory to interpret a case and those (ii) elaborating or developing theory through case study. Interestingly, the prevalence of theoretical debates on European integration...

In this paper, I explore in a systematic manner the different components of the democratic legitimacy of the Union from the standpoint of deliberative democratic theory. Contrary to standard accounts, I claim that the question must be disaggregated, given that the Union has not only several...

This paper sketches an organization theory-based approach to the study of public administrative behavior, institutions and developments in the context of democratic governance. The approach is here called the ‘Bergen approach’ because it originated as part of developing a department of...

Norway and the EU enlargement: negotiations and attitudes In May 2004 the EU will enlarge. Simultaneously, the new members will become members of the EEA. This article discusses the negotiations on the enlargement of the EEA. During the negotiations the EFTA countries were faced with tough...

This paper considers the need for granting the European Union a genuine power to tax. The argument is developed in several steps. First, it is shown that the granting of such a power to tax is both legally mandated and legally framed . In stark contrast to classical international organisations,...

We argue in this article that Europe has in fact had a kind of executive order for centuries but that we only now see that the contours of this order are qualitatively different from the intergovernmental order inherited from the past. We ascribe this phenomenon in particular to the...

Europeanization and globalization are frequently held to undermine national democracy; hence raising the question of the prospects for democracy in the multilevel constellation that makes up the European Union. The article presents three new models for how democracy can be reconstituted: through...

This paper accounts for the so-called Biometric Passports Regulation of the European Community. Formally adopted by the Council of the European Union (EU) in December of 2004, the Biometric Passports Regulation prescribes the compulsory biometric “enrollment” of all EU citizens applying for...