Fields of Expertise
Biography
My PhD project aims at elucidating the ideas and initiatives politicians and civil servants in the European Communities developed about democracy and representation.
The early years of European integration are commonly associated with post-war reconstruction, the six member states protecting their national interests and an emerging technocracy in Brussels. The predominant image in academic literature is that democratisation of the European project was not on the agenda. But despite the absence of a European representative democracy, politicians and civil servants reflected on the democratic legitimacy of the European institutions and their relation to citizens and (non-)governmental institutions. Rather than departing from a normative conception of democracy, this project aims to distill this conception from the words and deeds of the political actors involved. The focus is on Dutch politicians and civil servants in the European Communities.
This project is both innovative and relevant to our times, as it approaches European integration history from a new angle and can offer new insights into the European Communities' early years. In doing so, it can also attribute to current discussions about the presumed lack of democracy in the EU.