Current endeavours to employ the concept of consociational democracy in European Union research are misleading. This critique starts from a minimalist concept of democracy with alternation and inclusion of preferences in government formation as a parsimonious way to measure the extent to which political systems are majoritarian, consensual or even consociational in character. It then presents empirical results for the current EU member states and examines whether the European Union can be analysed in a similar way by using equivalent indicators. Despite a superficial resemblance to consociational systems, a crucial variable is missing in the EU: the formation of a stable grand coalition enclosing all institutions involved in decision-making. What has been wrongly termed consociationalism at the European level is best regarded as intergovernmentalism.
Bogaards, Matthijs
(2000) `The Uneasy Relationship between Empirical and Normative Types in Consociational Theory', Journal of Theoretical Politics12(4): 395-423.
2.
Bogaards, Matthijs
(2002) `Consociational Interpretations of the European Union. A Critical Appraisal', European Union Politics3(3): 357-381.
3.
Crepaz, Markus M.L.
(1996) `Consensus versus Majoritarian Democracy: Political Institutions and Their Impact on Macroeconomic Performance and Industrial Disputes', Comparative Political Studies29(1): 4-26.
4.
Crepaz, Markus M.L.
(2002) `Norms, Functions, and Dialectics. The Process of European Integration - A Reply to Bogaards', European Union Politics3(3): 357-381.
5.
Dahl, Robert A.
(1971) Polyarchy: Participation and Opposition. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
6.
Dinan, Desmond
(1994) Ever Closer Union? An Introduction to the European Community. London: Macmillan.
7.
Dowding, Keith
(2000) `Institutionalist Research on the European Union', European Union Politics1(1): 125-144.
8.
Gabel, Matthew J.
(1998) `The Endurance of Supranational Governance. A Consociational Interpretation of the European Union', Comparative Politics30(4): 463-475.
9.
Grande, Edgar
(2000) `Multi-Level Governance: Institutionelle Besonderheiten und Funktionsbedingungen des europäischen Mehrebenensystems', in Edgar Grande and Markus Jachtenfuchs (eds) Wie problemlösungsfähig ist die EU? Regieren im europäischen Mehrebenensystem, pp. 11-30. Baden-Baden: Nomos.
10.
Hayes-Renshaw, Fiona
and Helen Wallace (1997) The Council of Ministers. London: Macmillan.
11.
Hix, Simon
(1994) `The Study of the European Community: The Challenge to Comparative Politics', West European Politics17(1): 1-30.
12.
Hix, Simon
(1999) The Political System of the European Union. London: Macmillan.
13.
Hix, Simon
(2001) `Legislative Behaviour and Party Competition in the European Parliament. An Application of Nominate to the EU', Journal of Common Market Studies39(4): 663-688.
14.
Hix, Simon
and Klaus H. Goetz (2001) `Introduction: European Integration and National Political Systems', in Klaus H. Geotz and Simon Hix (eds) Europeanised Politics? European Integration and National Political Systems, pp. 1-26. London: Cass.
15.
Hug, Simon
and Pascal Sciarini (1995) `Switzerland - Still a Paradigmatic Case?', in Gerald Schneider, Patricia A. Weitsman and Thomas Bernauer (eds) Towards a New Europe. Stops and Starts in Regional Integration, pp. 55-74. Westport, CT: Praeger.
16.
Jones, Charles O.
(1994) The Presidency in a Separated System. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.
17.
Kaiser, André
(1997) `Types of Democracy. From Classical to New Institutionalism', Journal of Theoretical Politics9(4): 419-444.
18.
Kaiser, André
, Matthias Lehnert, Bernhard Miller and Ulrich Sieberer (2002) `Democratic Quality and Types of Democracy: A Conceptual Framework', Political Studies50(2): 313-331.
19.
Katz, Richard S.
(2001) `Models of Democracy. Elite Attitudes and the Democratic Deficit in the European Union', European Union Politics2(1): 53-79.
20.
Kielmansegg, Peter Graf
(1996) `Integration und Demokratie', in Markus Jachtenfuchs and Beate Kohler-Koch (eds) Europäische Integration, pp. 47-71. Opladen: Leske und Budrich.
21.
Krehbiel, Keith
(1991) Information and Legislative Organization. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
22.
Kreppel, Amy
(2000) `Rules, Ideology and Coalition Formation in the European Parliament', European Union Politics1(3): 340-362.
23.
Lijphart, Arend
(1977) Democracy in Plural Societies: A Comparative Exploration. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
24.
Lijphart, Arend
(1994) `Presidentialism and Majoritarian Democracy: Theoretical Observations', in Juan J. Linz and Arturo Valenzuela (eds) The Failure of Presidential Democracy. Comparative Perspectives, pp. 91-105. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
25.
Lijphart, Arend
(1998) `Consensus and Consensus Democracy: Cultural, Structural, Functional, and Rational-Choice Explanations', Scandinavian Political Studies21(2): 99-108.
26.
Lijphart, Arend
(1999) Patterns of Democracy. Government Forms and Performance in Thirty-Six Countries. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
27.
Mattila, Mikko
and Jan-Erik Lane (2001) `Why Unanimity in the Council? A Roll Call Analysis of Council Voting', European Union Politics2(1): 31-52.
28.
Milner, Helen
(1998) `Rationalizing Politics. The Emerging Synthesis of International, American, and Comparative Politics', International Organization52(4): 759-786.
29.
Nagel, Jack H.
(2000) `Expanding the Spectrum of Democracies. Reflections on Proportional Representation in New Zealand', in Markus M.L. Crepaz, Thomas A. Koelble and David Wilsford (eds) Democracy and Institutions. The Life Work of Arend Lijphart, pp. 113-125. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
30.
Przeworski, Adam
(1999) `Minimalist Conception of Democracy. A Defense', in Ian Shapiro and Casiano Hacker-Cordón (eds) Democracy's Value, pp. 23-55. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
31.
Scharpf, Fritz W.
(2002) `Regieren im europäischen Mehrebenensystem. Ansätze zu einer Theorie', Leviathan30(1): 65-92.
32.
Schmidt, Manfred G.
(2000) `Der konsoziative Staat. Hypothesen zur politischen Struktur und zum politischen Leistungsprofil der Europäischen Union', in Edgar Grande and Markus Jachtenfuchs (eds) Wie problemlösungsfähig ist die EU? Regieren im europäischen Mehrebenensystem, pp. 33-58. Baden-Baden: Nomos.
33.
Schmitter, Philippe C.
(2000) How to Democratize the European Union... and Why Bother?Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
34.
Schumpeter, Joseph A.
(1942) Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy. New York: Harper & Row.
35.
Simeon, Richard
(1972) Federal-Provincial Diplomacy. The Making of Recent Policy in Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
36.
Strøm, Kaare
(1990) Minority Government and Majority Rule. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
37.
Strøm, Kaare
et al. (1994) `Constraints on Cabinet Formation in Parliamentary Democracies', American Journal of Political Science38(2): 305-335.
38.
Taylor, Paul
(1990) `Consociationalism and Federalism as Approaches to International Integration', in A.J.R. Groom and Paul Taylor (eds) Frameworks for International Cooperation, pp. 172-184. London: Pinter.
39.
Tsebelis, George
and Geoffrey Garrett (2000) `Legislative Politics in the European Union', European Union Politics1(1): 9-36.
40.
Tsebelis, George
and Geoffrey Garrett (2001) `The Institutional Foundations of Intergovernmentalism and Supranationalism in the European Union', International Organization55(2): 357-390.
