Articles by Jaap Hoeksma

May 16, 2025

Dealing with dissent: advice to leave the EU

Jaap Hoeksma

May 2025 marks 75 years since the Schuman Declaration that paved the way for the European Union. But while the Declaration succeeded in establishing the first democratic union of democratic states, it is now failing to protect its democracies. Jaap Hoeksma considers how we can stop Viktor Orbán and his cronies from undermining the Union

May 9, 2024

The democratic legitimacy of the European Union

Jaap Hoeksma

As we approach the the European Parliament elections, from 6–9 June, Jaap Hoeksma argues that the European Union has resolved its problems of democratic legitimacy by becoming a democratic international organisation

March 12, 2024

The Law of Delors

Jaap Hoeksma

Jaap Hoeksma argues that Jacques Delors’ 1985 non-vision of the European Union as an 'Unidentified Political Object' has actually come to pass – with a little help from the European Court of Justice

January 17, 2024

Orbán vs Brussels: the battle heats up

Jaap Hoeksma

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is waging a longstanding battle with the EU. Jaap Hoeksma argues that this clash reflects a fundamental division over the EU's very identity – and Hungary’s forthcoming Presidency of the EU Council, from July–December 2024, will throw this into sharp focus

October 2, 2023

A tale of ‘Eurowhiteness’

Jaap Hoeksma

The recent publication of Eurowhiteness adds to various critiques of the EU. In this context, Jaap Hoeksma reminds us that we should not overlook the EU’s merits and its ongoing democratic trajectory. The EU, he argues, embodies the most significant innovation of the Modern States System since the Middle Ages

June 16, 2023

Lex Tusk as a catalyst for EU democracy

Jaap Hoeksma

The European Commission's intervention in the Polish crisis concerning the Lex Tusk is most welcome, writes Jaap Hoeksma. To be credible, however, the EU must also have its own house in order

May 3, 2023

Democratic global governance beyond Westphalia

Jaap Hoeksma

The EU has evolved from a union of democratic States into a European democracy. Jaap Hoeksma argues this sheds fresh light on the Kantian quest for perpetual peace. It demonstrates that the Westphalian system of international relations should give way to a model of democratic global governance

February 24, 2023

The European Court of Justice has resolved the EU’s democratic deficit. The EU should tell the world about it

Jaap Hoeksma

Jaap Hoeksma argues that a European Court of Justice ruling in 2022 legally overcame the EU’s longstanding democratic deficit. The EU should now draw on the implications of that ruling, and declare itself an original model of democracy

Jaap Hoeksma

Independent Philosopher of Law

Jaap started his career in human rights with UNHCR, and published about refugee law.

He is based in Amsterdam.

Eurocracy: the board game

At the time of the Maastricht Treaty, he published the board game Eurocracy with a view to demonstrating that the Westphalian system is not ‘the eternal foundation of international relations’.

democratisation of the european union jaap hoeksma

Jaap's book The Democratisation of the European Union (eleven, 2023) reveals that the EU has indeed replaced the Westphalian system with the European model of transnational governance.

He tweets @EUSpokesman

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