A research framework to shed light on the character of the EUs social constituency, as it emerges in

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A research framework to shed light on the
character of the EUs social constituency, as it
emerges in dynamic interaction with the process
of polity formation. Social constituency The
structure of demands and expectations that
citizens and groups place on the EU.Recognition
order A framework within which individuals and
groups are learning to see themselves as
recognised with respect to certain
characteristics.
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Organisation is the sum of

• CATNESS X NETNESS

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Steps of identification

• Catness, the nature and extent of relevant
  categories such as gender, sexuality, ethnicity,
  race, nation, age, region, religion, province,
  and class.
• Netness the nature and extent of networks within
  which people involve themselves. A network is
  made up of people with some kind of an
  interpersonal bond weak or strong. Networks are
  often formed around categories, or the latter are
  embedded in specific networks.
• Assessing catness and netness, in order to get a
  sense of their organisational status. This
  includes an assessment of the degree of
  inclusiveness and exclusiveness of each catnet,
  as well as an assessment of their organisational
  status, such as the resources they command, as
  well as how they are structured.

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A further indicator of netness is the group or
organisations mobilising potential

• in response to an outside threat to a groups
  identity or sense of self (defensive)
• to capitalise on opportunities that have arisen
  (offensive)
• to preparatory mobilisation, where a group pools
  resources in anticipation of future opportunities
  and threats (Tilly 1978 74).

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The two-dimensional catnet grid
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d) to sort out which catnets, from the whole
range of possible ones that would be the most
important for us to establish the relevant
claimants

• We can start from any one of the following
  angles
• Identify all those groups that are directly
  involved in the generation, maintenance and also
  rectification of the basic conditions that ensure
  self-confidence in any given society
• Identify the type and range of rights that are
  available to citizens in a society with the aim
  of sorting out those groups that are particularly
  involved in ensuring the conditions that underpin
  self-respect
• Identify those groups most closely associated
  with the hegemonic values in any given society
  and then look at all those dependent on the
  hegemons so as to establish the conditions that
  underpin self-esteem
• Supplemental investigations, such as for instance
  to obtain information on the prison population,
  on the presumption that disadvantaged groups tend
  to be more frequently incarcerated are there
  particular groups that dominate here?

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• e) to clarify the reasons that groups give to
  seek recognition
• look for the explanations that groups give to
  account for why they are concerned with
  recognition, and try to ascertain which mode of
  recognition they are most concerned with
• interview members of the groups
• study the information they produce, the
  interventions they make, the claims they set
  forth, and how they are addressed by other groups
  and by public authorities.

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• f) to sort groups by explicit reference to the
  notion of denial of recognition.
• focuses explicitly on those groups that
  subjectively see themselves as in need of
  recognition, and who will also be able and prone
  to refer to experiences of denial of recognition
  or who refer to some form of denigration or
  insult.

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• g) establish how and the extent to which those
  actors that can be categorised under the label of
  recognition approach the EU.
• Four possible ways in which claims and claimants
  may relate to the EU can be identified
• they focus exclusively on the EU as the addressee
  for claims
• the EU is seen as supplemental, meaning that
  there is an equal focus on the EU and on another
  entity, such as an organisations home state
• the EU is a subsidiary addressee, meaning that
  there is another addressee that matters more to
  the groups or the organisations
• the relevant claim-seekers do not focus on the EU
  at all

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3 LEITBILDER OF THE EU
The EU as a trans-national entity

• Very weak or non-existent supranational
  decision-making and sanctioning ability, at least
  in non-market matters.
• Significant formal and informal constraints on
  supranational institution-building.
• A very limited scope for redistribution and
  foreign and security policy confined to the
  member states.
• A weak and highly constrained fiscal and taxing
  ability, based on member state contributions.
• A limited scope and range of regulatory measures
  beyond the operation of the Common Market.
• Problem-solving through transnational functional
  regimes on the basis of delegated authority.
• Legitimation ensured through democratic
  will-formation at the nation state level with
  the requisite democratic control of regulatory
  functions above the state level ensured by
  openness and deliberation in transnational
  governance structures.

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The EU as a state-in-the-making

• A commitment to a constitutional patriotism
  founded on basic rights and democratic
  procedures, which also ensures that citizens are
  considered as and consider themselves as citizens
  of the same order.
• The basic structural and substantive
  constitutional principles of Union law will be
  firmly entrenched.
• Coercive measures and the resources required for
  efficient and consistent norm enforcement and
  policy implementation.
• Schooling, symbolic measures and social
  redistributive means to socialize the people of
  Europe into Europeans.
• A set of clearly delineated criteria for who are
  Europeans and who are not, and these criteria
  reflect cultural aspects and the search for a
  common identity.
• A wide scope of regulatory and redistributive
  measures, and an independent and significant
  fiscal capacity and taxing ability (taxes paid
  directly to the Union).
• A European foreign and security policy, police
  and military force for territorial control and
  protection of sovereignty, and international
  legal recognition as a state.

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The EU as an emergingcosmopolitan government

• The active development of a European
  constitutional structure with a firmly entrenched
  rights basis which includes civil, political,
  social and economic rights.
• A post-national organization that subjects its
  actions to higher-ranking principles.
• The borders of the Union are justified with
  regard to what is required for the Union to be a
  self-sustainable and well-functioning democratic
  entity and with regard to the support and further
  development of similar regional associations in
  the rest of the world.
• A commitment to a set of universal norms founded
  on fundamental rights and democratic procedures.
• A delineation of powers and responsibilities
  along horizontal and vertical lines.
• A very open and comprehensive, multi-level
  process of democratic will-formation that places
  great onus on participation conducive to
  deliberative democratic supranationalism.
• The Union is not aspiring to be a world power but
  a regional political order that pushes for and
  binds itself to cosmopolitan principles.