Quasi-Messianism and the disenchantment of politics

The study of political religion has focused on how religious structure and substance came to permeate grand political ideologies such as fascism and communism. The relevance of various relatively veiled forms of religion in modern day-to-day democratic politics has been undervalued and we therefore fail to appreciate to what extent, and how religious structure and substance have also penetrated conventional democratic politics. As a result, we do not comprehend that it is the progressive abolition of "quasi-messianism" in politics that is currently causing the existential problem of democracy, namely massive political disaffection. Quasi-messianism concerned the visionary anticipation of a better world that is attainable, here and in the distant, yet foreseeable future. This promise accorded politics an enchanting quality. Quite down-to-earth political ventures got charged with an inspiring and imaginative sense of purpose, direction, and meaning, but equally with this-worldly catalysts, which, in contrast to the political-religious grand utopias, were operational and practical. In this quality, some mass political projects or elite missions developed a capacity to enchant the political elite and the public alike. Hence the thesis that it is the disenchantment of politics, which lies at the heart of the contemporary phenomenon of waning political allegiance. Copyright © Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association 2009

Social democracy after the Third Way: restoration or renewal?

Given the ill-fated political experience with the Third Way, one would not expect social democratic parties that return to office after long opposition spells to take up again the liberal, supply-side oriented policies that were so typical for the Third Way. A case study of Denmark, however, shows that that is precisely what happens and that it has the same disastrous electoral consequences. Taking a comparative perspective and learning from the Danish experience, we conclude that other future social democratic governments are likely to pursue many elements of the updated Third Way we found in the Danish case

The politics of international norms: Subsidiarity and the imperfect competence regime of the Europenean Union

Contains fulltext : 159968.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)Theories on the role of norms in international relations generally neglect the possibility that after their adoption a new battle over their precise meaning ensues, especially when a norm remains vague and illusive. Norm implementation is not only a matter of internalization and compliance, but also of redefinition. Building on insights from rationalist and constructivist approaches, this article advances the idea of recurrent battles for and over norms in international politics. It argues that the analytical tools of international regime theory are instrumental in tracking such battles. This framework is applied to the history and role of subsidiarity as a norm in the competence regime of the European Union between 1991 and 2005. Its main finding is that the issue of subsidiarity was not a matter of norm internalization, but concerned a recurrent battle between old and newly empowered actors over its precise meaning, eventually favouring the member states' prerogative.22 p

Interests, Identity and Political Allegiance in the European Union

In this paper, we take up a question, which has a longstanding tradition within the field of European Union (EU) studies: What explains the variation in public support for European integration and/or the European Union? There are two dominant explanations of EU support: the utilitarian self-interest and the national identity perspectives. The former viewpoint stresses that citizens are more likely to support integration, if it results in a net benefit to the national economy or their own pocketbook. The latter perspective highlights the importance of feelings of national identity in shaping support for European integration. Drawing on the concept of (double) allegiance, we argue that there are theoretical reasons to combine the interest- and identity-based perspectives into one single explanatory framework. Support for supra-national institutions depends on the extent to which such institutions allow national political elites to provide security and well-being. The more citizens perceive that integration threatens their (economic, social-psychological and/or socio-economic) security and well-being, the less they are likely to support the EU. We find empirical evidence that interest- and identity-based explanations should indeed not be seen as alternative explanations, but as perspective that capture different sides of the same coin.Session 1: Governance in the European Unio

Expansion and Fragmentation

Is the end of the nation-state approaching, now that the international economy takes less and less notice of borders between countries and the European Union has already acquired so much political power? What does national autonomy mean when governments delegate any number of powers to international organizations? Internationalization leads to political change, and the position of the nation-state appears to be undergoing a radical process of erosion. The surprising conclusion of this book is that the political significance of the state will not be lost. The analyses show that both expansion and fragmentation of political power are characteristics of fundamental political change. While it is true that the state is delegating authority and that internationalization is limiting autonomy, the state is also finding new forms of cooperation and coordination, both nationally and internationally, to preserve and even to strengthen its power and autonomy. Contrary to widely held assumptions, the idea of a progressive weakening of the nationstate does not prove tenable