Die ueberdehnte Staatlichkeit: Warum der Westen scheitern koennte (The overstretched state. Why the West might fail)

摘要

Both the claim made in the title and the fear expressed in the subtitle of this volume are based on the premise that western democratic states, as they become more transnational, i.e. hand over power to supranational bodies, are no longer able to fulfil their traditional functions, the exercise of which is implied in the word 'Staatlichkeit' of the title. To underline his point, Brock includes a table (p.263) which juxtaposes what he sees as the contradictions between the national and the transnational state, beginning with for the national state: 'predisposition towards its own citizens' and for the transnational state: 'wishes to create same conditions for all economic actors'. If this and the other points sound like a criticism of the European Union, it should be pointed out that he is writing about all international bodies with the EU only 'the tip of an iceberg' (p.266). Accordingly, whilst he does criticise the EU for its democratic deficit, he sees British hopes of regaining traditional sovereignty through Brexit as 'naive' (p.266).