EUROPE AS A RELATIONAL GOOD

The present contribution is a part of a research on the prospect of European unity, defined by the dialectical poles of monist and polyarchical forms of distribution of the power. This reflection tries to decline this approach into a political science perspective, according to that theoretical and empirical approach called “Relational Sociology” or “Relational Theory of Society”. To overcome the bottleneck of the process of European construction, the functionalist solution pursued until now, is no longer enough. We must rediscover, within European political thought itself, some cultural trends that dissent from that technocratical uniformity of which Brussels is the last agonizing manifestation. However, we need to rediscover it not in the name of mere values or interests, but rather in the name of an adherence to reality, which also means an adherence to the deeper truth of things. For instance, it could be useful to analyze the evolutions of social bond through the lens of the “ordoliberal” tradition, going further a mere Welfare State-perspective. So doing, we could rethink the very nature of political bond in a relational key. Actually, a sort of subsidiary representation should be created, so that it can be put in a position to produce relational goods. On the one hand, it implies a reform of the European institutions towards a redistribution of powers between the European Commission and the Parliament; on the other hand, it implies a reform of the same selection process both of the representatives and the issues through old and new tools of participatory democracy. All that will be made possible through the expansion of the quantity and quality of the political demand in a key of inclusion - the very challenge of a Third millennium democracy in Europe.