Individual militant democracy in EU institutions

Mráz, Attila Gergely and Theuns, Tom (2026) Individual militant democracy in EU institutions. DEMOCRATIZATION. pp. 1-22. ISSN 1351-0347 (In Press)

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Abstract

The literature on whether militant democracy can be used to justify EU sanctions against Member States due to their democratic backsliding has so far focused on EU institutions and Member States as (potential) agents of militant democratic sanctions. Yet, militant democratic measures, in some circumstances, may also be imposed by individual agents on individuals who pose a threat to democracy. At the same time, new work in political ethics explores the duties and opportunities of individual political actors, such as Members of the European Parliament, to respond to backsliding in their collegial relations. In this article, we explore whether a militant democratic framework can justify such individual responses to democratic backsliding. We argue that, in principle, individual political actors such as MEPs, members of the European Council, Member State delegates on the Council, and COREPER officials can justifiably apply militant measures against colleagues who hold mandates or offices in a shared decision-making or supportive body of the EU and are elected in or delegated by undemocratic Member States. Such measures, while they would need to pass a high bar of normative justification, require no institutional reform to be implemented.

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