ON SUPRANATIONAL DEMOCRACY

Introduction. At present, the European Union faces dramatic challenges in its history. The EU’s future, which seemed so clear in the past, is now rather uncertain. Over the last five years, the secession trends have become more significant. The research places special emphasis on the efforts to be taken by the Europeans in order to prevent political collapse, and strengthen the Union.

Materials and methods. Currently the EU concerns cause heated debate among analysts and political scientists. The author follows two patterns of theoretical approaches to European problems: The works of prominent theorists – Antony Giddens and Jürgen Habermas.  The research is based on the books “Turbulent and Mighty Continent. What Future for Europe?” written by Anthony Giddens in 2015, and “The Crisis of the European Union. Response” by Jürgen Habermas (2012), which express the opinion of these most competent researches on the specific features of democratic processes in Europe and in the EU.

The results of the research. Following the review of the above books, the author concludes that supraNational democracy is a matter of great concern.  This  kind of democracy is interpreted as manifestation of high political culture which, on the one hand, is free from local narrow-mindedness and, on the other hand, lacks one of the main controversies of democracy such as the conflict between the majority’s will and the minority interests.

Discussions and conclusion. Based on Giddens’ idea of the two-tier system of power existing in modern Europe (Europe of bureaucrats, so-called “Paper Europe” – the EU1, and Europe of effective leaders – the EU2) the author states that successful development the European Union requires the following three tiers of power: 1) the power of administrative institutions (the EU1), 2) the power of effective political leaders (the EU2), and 3) the power of supraNational democracy (power of the European people – the EU3).

The author focuses on the unique nature of the European experiment in terms of history, its significance for the prospective political development of other regions of the world, highlights the EU economic, political and anthropological conditions, which may ensure that the development of supraNational EU democracy will be a success.

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