Amitai
Etzioni
Research
Area: Reform of EU Institutions
Series; CEPS
Policy Briefs
Notes
This paper argues that
the main challenge currently facing the EU is a community deficit: the low
valuation the majority of its citizens accord the evolving collectivity. To
deal with this community deficit, the author, Amitai Etzioni, warns that the EU
must either introduce strong measures of community building or else
significantly scale back its plans for collective action.
He first cites illustrative data to show that there is a considerable level of
disaffection from the EU project and the EU institutions and then turns to
examine the first set of measures needed to reduce the strain on the EU by
scaling back for the near future those provisions that alienate many citizens.
He then introduces a second set of measures that are needed to build up
citizens’ commitment to the EU, by fostering public dialogue, developing a
common European media and language, and holding EU-wide election.
Amitai Etzioni was a professor of sociology at Columbia University for 20
years. He joined the Brookings Institution as a guest scholar in 1978 and then
went on to serve as Senior Advisor to the White House on domestic affairs from
1979-1980. In 1980 he was named the first University Professor at The George
Washington University, where he currently serves as the director of the
Institute for Communitarian Policy Studies. He leads the Communitarian Network,
a think tank based in Washington, D.C.
Source : Centre d’analyse
stratégique (CAS) note de veille 109, septembre 2008, « brèves » http://www.strategie.gouv.fr/article.php3?id_article=900
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