Suchergebnisse

Can the participation of civil society organisations democratise policy-making in the European Union? Addressing the topical issue of how to achieve democracy beyond the nation-state, this book challenges the widespread optimism about civil society participation in European governance and offers a nuanced and realistic evaluation of its democratic potential. It is argued that the participatio of these groups is only of democratic value if participatory patterns are democratised through appropriate institutional means of regulated deliberative participation.

Der Beitrag geht der Frage nach, ob die EU angesichts eines intensiven Diskurses über demokratisches Regieren durch zivilgesellschaftliche Partizipation in ihren alltäglichen Politikgestaltungsprozessen ein demokratieförderndes Regime zivilgesellschaftlicher Partizipation implementiert. Um das demokratisierende Potenzial zivilgesellschaftlicher Partizipation auszuschöpfen, bedarf es eines auf Regeln basierenden Partizipationsregimes, um der normativen Unverbindlichkeit funktionaler ad hoc-Partizipation entgegenzuwirken. Im Einzelnen werden zwei Partizipationsmodelle vor dem Hintergrund pluralistischer und deliberativer Demokratietheorie für die empirische Analyse partizipativer Praxis fruchtbar gemacht. Der empirische Schwerpunkt liegt auf dem derzeitigen Partizipationsregime in der europäischen Migrations- und Umweltpolitik. Die Untersuchung zeigt, dass die partizipative Infrastruktur in der EU nicht mit der Intensität des partizipativen Diskurses Schritt hält, sondern sich ein System von Laissez faire-Partizipation mit korporatistischen Zügen herausgebildet hat. (ICE2)

English
Many scholars attach normative expectations to the Open Method of Coordination (OMC), a new European governance instrument, with regard to its ability to decrease the EU's democratic deficit by creating a participatory policy process. This article argues that the existing OMC literature insufficiently relates the normative expectations with empirical research by scrutinising the policy process of the OMC on social inclusion with regard to their openness and participative character, taking the National Action Plans in Germany as an example. The empirical results are discussed in light of the normative expectations on the OMC's democratic potential.

What does political representation in the European Union look like? This volume argues that the transformation of representation in the EU is characterized by diversification processes, albeit with an uncertain ability to re-configure the link between representation and democracy

What does political representation in the European Union look like? Which actors claim to act as representatives of which constituency? What role does the EU play in (re)shaping political representation? This volume addresses these questions, adding to the emerging debate on political representation and democracy in the EU, and includes original conceptual and empirical chapters by emerging and leading scholars in the field. It clarifies the roles of different political actors such as parliaments, civil society organizations and subnational authorities. It explores representative claims made by these actors in different contexts, be it the digital public sphere or parliaments, and elucidates the impact of the EU on the institutions and practices of political representation. The volume argues that the transformation of representation in the EU is characterized by processes of diversification, albeit with an uncertain ability to re-configure the link between representation and democracy.

While the Lisbon Treaty embraces representative democracy and political equality, a clear division or hierarchy of competences is absent. The Treaty distinguishes between an electoral, a territorial, a functional and a direct channel of representation, without clarifying the relationship between them. Moreover, the current system of representation has two different normative subjects: the individual and the state. The former points towards an integrated European polity with state-like characteristics, while the latter treats the EU as an advanced intergovernmental organization. The former is primarily enacted through electoral, functional and potentially direct representation, whereas the latter is primarily enacted through territorial representation. We argue that these two kinds of subjectivity relate to political equality in different ways, and that they are mixed within the same channels of representation. The mix of these two forms of subjectivity in the different channels of representation contributes to the blurring of political equality for each of the subjectivities. We disagree with the interpretation of the EU's compound system of representation as being democratic, therefore. Different levels and channels of representation only make for democratic representation if they succeed in realizing the norms of political equality and public control. To realize these norms, however, certain minimum criteria need to be fulfilled, and these are not met in the EU. Adapted from the source document.