Why EU democratic theory needs a decolonial turn: Racism, colonialism and the ‘we’ of democracy

Scholars in the field of European Studies have long debated the existence (or lack thereof) of a European ‘demos’, a disagreement that has important political implications for our understanding of EU democracy. However, in spite of the emergence of conceptual innovations such as the idea of ‘demoicracy’, EU democratic theory literature has largely omitted the colonial past and present of European integration. The article asks: how has EU democratic theory literature dealt with racism and colonialism, and who is conceived to be the ‘we’ of democracy? The article argues that the literature has had a tendency to reproduce institutional debates, replicating the thinking of EU institutions rather than challenging it. Thus, given the general silence of the literature regarding the relation between colonialism and EU democracy, it is an urgent task to pursue a decolonial turn in EU democratic theory. This entails connecting epistemic with material injustices, and therefore prioritising the voices of the Global Souths when thinking of democracy. In contrast to the traditional concepts of ‘demos’ or ‘demoi’, the article puts forward the notion of the decolonial multitude, an alternative to conceive the ‘we’ of democracy that fosters a movement-oriented and internationalist imaginary within and beyond the EU.