The EU is illegitimate because it is not based on a Genuine Social Contract

The EU is illegitimate because it is not based on a Genuine Social Contract

Introduction

In the comprehensive sense, the social contract sets out the political and constitutional framework for institutions and policymaking in a given society. The question then arises: is the contract a useful instrument in constructing the framework? The answer depends on different models of the welfare state, since the amalgam of normative and empirical claims on which any model is based varies from one to another (Kary, 2001). In terms of normative claims, the values of justice, need, freedom, equality, and the rule of law should be given their place. Each society should decide what demands these values may legitimately make on the state and the relative priority of each. Normative conclusions then need to be related to empirical reality, in order to determine the likely effects of a given policy on society (Rousseau, 2001).

Discussion

Firstly, social contract theories would surely differ if one theory assumes that people are social animals who cannot escape their own psychological egoism; while another would view the individual as a rational calculator of ways to best achieve his own goals; and the third would view him as an individual who is part egoistic man, part social citizen (Kary, 2001).

The second element relates to the state of nature, the situation that, hypothetically, precedes social life. Would life in such a state be 'solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short', as Hobbes claims; a state of relatively peaceful, perfect, and complete liberty, though burdened by enforcement problems, as in Locke; or a peaceful period, in which people lived solitary, uncomplicated lives, as in Rousseau (Jacques, 2004).

Amongst critics of classical social contract theory, David Hume is probably best known. Three strands of Hume's critique are relevant here. Firstly, he argues that historically, no such contractual moment existed. Secondly, arguments of reason detect flaws in the logic of social contract (Rousseau, 2001). His contention against Locke's attribution of tacit consent to citizens illustrates the point. Locke suggested that individuals who do not leave the country should be seen as providing tacit consent to its government's actions. Hume responded by drawing a parallel with passengers on a ship who are invited to jump to see if they are unhappy with the conditions on board (Kary, 2001). And, thirdly, arguments of experience suggest that people 'are born to obedience' through education and habit, rather than through consent. Hume, in a manner similar to Hegel, finds consensual theories of political agreement too weak and unstable to serve as the basis for such an important and necessary entity as the state (Pettit, 2001).

Social Contract Theory

Social contract theory must satisfy two stages of legitimation: ex ante, the contracting parties are imagined to negotiate the basic structure of society; ex post, the actual parties question whether the hypothetical contract lives up to its promise (Gough, 2001). Those espousing the hypothetical contract justify their approach in this way: if the principles they have chosen will, over time, come to be accepted and in fact regulate the society, then they will be validated ex post facto (Harrison, 2003)...