Suchergebnisse

One of the contributions of sociological approaches to the academic debates about the European Union (EU) democratic deficit has been to focus on the social acceptance of the EU. Nowadays, fostering a sense of belonging to the EU becomes one of the strategies to fix the EU democratic deficit. Therefore, sociological approaches have now to evaluate the adequacy of these EU policies. Our paper aims at furthering sociological approaches by taking into account citizens' perceptions and European institutions' policies engaging with these representations. The vision of citizenship promoted by EU institutions through different policies is very often reduced to its instrumental dimension. The topic of 'freedom of movement' proves to be a good case study. On the one side, EU institutions often use it to enhance the feeling of belonging. On the other side, the study of citizens' representations of the EU show that freedom of movement alone, even when citizens exercise this right, is not enough to support a feeling of belonging. This (partial) disconnection between EU institutions' policies on citizenship and citizenship's perceptions falls short in fixing the democratic deficit. The empirical basis for this research is twofold. It is based on the analysis of Commission's discourses of the 'European Year of Citizen' (2013-2014) and its apparitions on social networks. These analyses are then confronted with citizens' representations collected through collective interviews organised in Brussels. This move to the micro-level deepens the understanding of EU citizenship by juxtaposing the EU institutions' strategies with the analysis of citizens' perceptions.

One of the contributions of sociological approaches to the academic debates about the European Union (EU) democratic deficit has been to focus on the social acceptance of the EU. Nowadays, fostering a sense of belonging to the EU becomes one of the strategies to fix the EU democratic deficit. Therefore, sociological approaches have now to evaluate the adequacy of these EU policies. Our paper aims at furthering sociological approaches by taking into account citizens' perceptions and European institutions' policies engaging with these representations. The vision of citizenship promoted by EU institutions through different policies is very often reduced to its instrumental dimension. The topic of 'freedom of movement' proves to be a good case study. On the one side, EU institutions often use it to enhance the feeling of belonging. On the other side, the study of citizens' representations of the EU show that freedom of movement alone, even when citizens exercise this right, is not enough to support a feeling of belonging. This (partial) disconnection between EU institutions' policies on citizenship and citizenship's perceptions falls short in fixing the democratic deficit. The empirical basis for this research is twofold. It is based on the analysis of Commission's discourses of the 'European Year of Citizen' (2013-2014) and its apparitions on social networks. These analyses are then confronted with citizens' representations collected through collective interviews organised in Brussels. This move to the micro-level deepens the understanding of EU citizenship by juxtaposing the EU institutions' strategies with the analysis of citizens' perceptions.

One of the contributions of sociological approaches to the academic debates about the European Union (EU) democratic deficit has been to focus on the social acceptance of the EU. Nowadays, fostering a sense of belonging to the EU becomes one of the strategies to fix the EU democratic deficit. Therefore, sociological approaches have now to evaluate the adequacy of these EU policies. Our paper aims at furthering sociological approaches by taking into account citizens' perceptions and European institutions' policies engaging with these representations. The vision of citizenship promoted by EU institutions through different policies is very often reduced to its instrumental dimension. The topic of 'freedom of movement' proves to be a good case study. On the one side, EU institutions often use it to enhance the feeling of belonging. On the other side, the study of citizens' representations of the EU show that freedom of movement alone, even when citizens exercise this right, is not enough to support a feeling of belonging. This (partial) disconnection between EU institutions' policies on citizenship and citizenship's perceptions falls short in fixing the democratic deficit. The empirical basis for this research is twofold. It is based on the analysis of Commission's discourses of the 'European Year of Citizen' (2013-2014) and its apparitions on social networks. These analyses are then confronted with citizens' representations collected through collective interviews organised in Brussels. This move to the micro-level deepens the understanding of EU citizenship by juxtaposing the EU institutions' strategies with the analysis of citizens' perceptions.