Tankar om demokrati, effektivitet och legitimitet -En idéanalys av debatten om EU:s framtid i två länder

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In recent years the concern about the future of the European Union and its supposed lack of democracy, efficiency and legitimacy has increased. This concern has resulted in extensive debates and the establishment of a convention with the task to create a draft treaty for a European Constitution. The aim of this essay is to study how the three theoretical concepts, democracy, efficiency and legitimacy, have been described and used in the debate about the future of the European Union. My main interest is to see how these concepts are described in a debate regarding a political system that goes beyond the borders of the nation-state. I have made a comparative textual analysis of the debates taken place in Sweden and Spain during a period of over two years. I have, for instance, found out that openness and clearness have a prominent position as democratic values together with equality and justice (in Spain) and the institution of accountability (in Sweden). Further on, democracy and efficiency are often described as oppositions, between which priorities have to be made. Legitimacy is found in democracy as a rightful source of authority and it is stated that citizens usually ...