The Consociational Analogy of the European Union
| Published date | 01 December 2002 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1465116502003004006 |
| Date | 01 December 2002 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Forum Section
The Consociational Analogy
of the European Union
A Rejoinder to Crepaz with a Comment
on Kaiser
Matthijs Bogaards
University of Southampton, UK
I would like to thank the editors of this journal for giving me the opportunity
to react briefly to the reply by Crepaz (2002) to my critical appraisal of con-
sociational interpretations of the European Union (EU) (Bogaards, 2002) and
to comment on this issue’s research note by Kaiser. The contributions by
Crepaz and Kaiser add to the growing literature on consociationalism and
the EU. Interestingly, they reach very different conclusions. Crepaz provides
a defence of consociational interpretations of the EU, whereas Kaiser finds
‘that endeavours to employ the concept of consociational democracy in
European Union research are misleading’.
The disagreement between Crepaz and myself is fundamental but not as
widespread as might seem. Many of the points with which Crepaz takes issue
are not mine. Crepaz is rightly concerned about the use of analogies and
resemblances, and he is right to doubt the claims that a stronger European
Parliament will threaten the stability of the EU and that elites hamper depil-
larization and thwart the emergence of a European demos. I developed all
these points at some length in my article. The disagreement is not between
Crepaz and myself, but between Crepaz and some of the most influential
consociational interpretations of the EU that I cite and discuss.
In my view, consociational analogies of the EU are flawed because of crucial
differences between the constituent elements: social segments versus nation-
states. One difference is that segments in consociational democracies were never
sovereign, whereas EU member states are, or at least were. In order to indicate
501
European Union Politics
[1465-1165(200212)3:4]
Volume 3 (4): 501–503: 028524
Copyright© 2002
SAGE Publications
London, Thousand Oaks CA,
New Delhi
06 bogaards (jk/d) 25/10/02 3:10 pm Page 501
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