The Ethos of Europe: Values, Law and Justice in the EU

by Andrew Williams

• ISBN13: 9780521118286
• ISBN10: 052111828X
• eBook ISBN(s): 9780511740503
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-04-30
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• More Book Details

Summary

Can the EU become a 'just' institution? Andrew Williams considers this highly charged political and moral question by examining the role of five salient values said to be influential in the governance and law of the Union: peace, the rule of law, respect for human rights, democracy, and liberty. He assesses each of these as elements of an apparent 'institutional ethos' and philosophy of EU law and finds that justice as a governing ideal has failed to be taken seriously in the EU. To remedy this condition, he proposes a new set of principles upon which justice might be brought more to the fore in the Union's governance. By focusing on the realisation of human rights as a core institutional value, Williams argues that the EU can better define its moral limits so as to evolve as a more just project.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. vii
The ethos of Europe: an introduction	p. 1
An uncertain 'soul'	p. 1
The objectives of the book	p. 14
Conclusion	p. 21
Peace	p. 22
Introduction	p. 22
The 'original peace'	p. 26
The external dimension: towards global peace	p. 35
The new peace: security as a third dimension	p. 52
Conclusion	p. 64
The rule of law	p. 70
Introduction	p. 70
The conceptual spectrum	p. 73
The supranational dimension	p. 77
The institutional dimension	p. 94
The international dimension	p. 98
Conclusion	p. 104
Human rights	p. 110
Introduction	p. 110
Establishing the principle	p. 112
The conception of human rights in the EU	p. 117
Scrutiny and surveillance	p. 135
Enforcement	p. 143
Conclusion	p. 152
Democracy	p. 154
Introduction	p. 154
The concept of democracy beyond the state	p. 156
Democracy in the EU	p. 165
Conclusion	p. 192
Liberty	p. 197
Introduction	p. 197
The concept of liberty	p. 199
Collective liberty and the EU	p. 208
Individual liberty and the EU	p. 219
Conclusion	p. 238
The institutional ethos of the EU	p. 242
Introduction	p. 242
The value(s) of the institutional ethos	p. 243
The philosophy of EU law and the EU's institutional ethos	p. 250
Conclusion	p. 281
Towards the EU as a just institution	p. 283
Introduction	p. 283
Nine assumptions for an account of justice for the EU	p. 284
Conclusion	p. 313
Concluding proposals	p. 314
Introduction	p. 314
Two proposals for justice	p. 317
A research agenda for a just institution	p. 327
Final thought	p. 338
Bibliography	p. 340
Index	p. 354
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