The European Anarchy (Copenhagen studies in economics & management)

Erik Holm argues that the European project can only move away from anarchy if it enters into "high politics", the questions of power and authority in security and money. The threat to Europe, and thus the actual raison d'etre of the European Union, comes from the inside of Europe, from the social fragility of the "new democracies". A constructive and efficient response, he believes, can only be given by a European polity, based on an internal order aimed at maintaining political and monetary stability, and including these countries. The new polity must obtain the consent of the citizens by extending the concept of democracy to include cultural rights, the right to live within a cultural society of one's own choice. Holm proposes that the order of the polity must institute a judicial authority to interpret and an executive authority to defend a constitution, if need be by force.