What's nonviolence to do with the European Union?

Abstract

Nonviolence has an established tradition in several disciplines, including political theory, international relations and political science. We explore the potential of nonviolence as analytical and normative framework for the study of European integration and European Union (EU) politics. At the outset, we introduce the basics of nonviolence and define our approach to this concept. We then apply it to three critical issues concerning the nature of EU power, the democratic deficit and the narrative of integration. We find that our framework re-defines the core dimensions of the problems of power and democracy, assists in imagining the EU in non state-morphic ways, and provides innovative ways to put praxis at the roots of the integration process and its narrative.