The Challenge of Democratic Representation in the European Union

The Challenge of Democratic Representation in the European Union PDF Author: S. Kröger
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 023035582X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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Book Description
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.

The Challenge of Democratic Representation in the European Union

The Challenge of Democratic Representation in the European Union PDF Author: S. Kröger
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 023035582X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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Book Description
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.

Social Democracy and the Challenge of European Union

Social Democracy and the Challenge of European Union PDF Author: Robert Ladrech
Publisher: Lynne Rienner Publishers
ISBN: 9781555879020
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 186

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Book Description
He also explores what this new form of political activity means for European politics, arguing that the traditional positions of left and right may be becoming increasingly significant within the EU's evolving, transnational political culture.

Challenges of Democracy in the European Union and Its Neighbors

Challenges of Democracy in the European Union and Its Neighbors PDF Author: Aylin Ünver Noi
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780990772064
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Democracy, which protects freedom and citizens' rights more than any other regime, is in crisis today. In recent years, it has become exhausted in its European center and along its periphery. Citizen trust of the European Union's democratic institutions has been fading. The EU's "normative power" -- its ability to spread its norms and values to other states -- and its "soft power" -- its ability to attract others to its point of view -- are now seen as less likely to achieve the expected goals of spreading democracy within EU countries and creating a ring of well-governed states in neighboring countries. Democracy and its institutions need to adapt to these new challenges. Respected authors and experts offer fresh and creative answers to the challenges of democracy in the European Union and its neighboring countries by offering a transatlantic perspective.

Subnational Democracy in the European Union

Subnational Democracy in the European Union PDF Author: John Loughlin
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191544701
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 436

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Book Description
This book is the result of a research project carried out for the Committee of the Regions and analyses the 'state of play' of democratic practice at the subnational level in all of the European Member states. Its initial hypothesis was that liberal democracy is closely associated with the rise of the nation state in the 19th century. The nation state, however, has been significantly changing under the impact of various forces including globalization and regionalization, internal reforms of the public administration system such as privatization and deregulation, and the emergence of regions and local authorities as actors in their own rights. these changes pose challenges for the practice of democracy and, in particular, for its expression at the regional and local level. The book deals with the theoretical implications of these changes in terms of the changing nature of the state and new regionalism. However, one of the key findings is that there is no one uniform meaning of democracy across member states and there are variations even within a single state depending on whether the national or subnational levels are considered. Each country chapter gives the historical and philosophical background to the concept of democracy in each country. There is also an exposition of the institutional expression of democracy at the different levels. With regard to the practice of democracy at the subnational level, the role of pressure groups and policy networks is examined as well as the role of political parties. There is a survey of critiques of subnational democracy. Finally, there is a survey of innovative approaches to improving regional and local democracy through a variety of mechanisms and reforms as ways of responding to the challenge and opportunities facing it today

Democratic Representation in Europe

Democratic Representation in Europe PDF Author: Maurizio Cotta
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191528536
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 552

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Book Description
Democratic Representation in Europe: Diversity, Change and convergence explores representation as a core element of democracies in the modern era. Over the past 150 years parliamentary representation has developed into a main link between polity and society, and parliamentary representatives have come to form the nucleus of political elites. The twenty authors of the 16 chapters follow a comparative and empirical approach by exploiting the unique longitudinal data-base of the EURELITE project, which has gathered standardized evidence about the structures of parliamentary representation in 11 European countries and their development over time; in many countries over 160 years. Following on from an earlier book by the same editors (Parliamentary Representatives in Europe 1848-2000.) which focused on trends in single European countries, Democratic Representation in Europe pursues a trans-national approach by comparing the mechanisms and modes of parliamentary recruitment and career formation between the main party families and various categories of the population in European societies. Such cross-national analyses, which include a longitudinal account of female representation throughout modern European parliamentary history, have not been attempted before. The book concludes with longitudinal in-depth analyses of cleavage representation in European parliamentary history and of the impact of the institutional factor on political elites' transformations. Democratic Representation in Europe contributes to a better understanding of relations between social and political change, and of the importance of institutional factors in shaping the political elites of European democracies. In so doing it can help substantiate theoretical debates in the social and political sciences on issues such as historical institutionalism and path dependency.

The Representative Turn in EU Studies

The Representative Turn in EU Studies PDF Author: Sandra Kröger
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134927452
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 162

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Book Description
After the participative and deliberative turns in both democratic theory and EU studies, we are currently witnessing a ‘representative turn’ to which this volume contributes by addressing the relation between representation and democracy in the EU. Although in the Lisbon Treaty the EU conceives itself as a representative democracy, the meaning of this concept in a supranational polity is far from clear – either in theory or practice. Instead, the historically contingent link between representation and democracy is today severely challenged by various processes of diversification at all levels of political action (national, regional, supranational). These processes challenge our understanding of representative democracy as involving electoral democracy within clearly delineated nation-states, provoking a situation in which ‘new frontiers’ of representation develop. Consequently, it becomes increasingly difficult to provide normative standards as well as accurate assessments of democratic representation in the EU. This volume addresses these core challenges of representative democracy in the EU from normative, theoretical and methodological perspectives. This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of European Public Policy.

Citizen Participation in Democratic Europe

Citizen Participation in Democratic Europe PDF Author: James Organ
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781786612878
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
"This book brings together academics as well as practitioners to give a forward-looking, holistic view of the realities of EU citizen participation across the spectrum of participatory opportunities"--

Political Representation in the European Union

Political Representation in the European Union PDF Author: Sandra Kröger
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317745493
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 275

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Book Description
In recent years the financial and economic crisis of 2008–9 has progressed into an equally important political and democratic crisis of the EU. These troubled times have set the framework to re-assess a number of important questions in regard to representative democracy in the EU, such as the normative foundation of political representation, the institutional relationship between representatives and represented, the link between democracy and representation and new arenas and actors. This book examines the diverse avenues through which different sorts of actors have expressed their voices during the Euro crisis and how their various interests are translated into the decision-making process. It offers a state-of- the-art assessment of what political representation means in this context as well as a contribution to the ‘representative turn’ in democratic theory. The authors address three key themes: • The main actors and channels of political representation in the EU. • Interlocking levels of representation in the EU and the way in which national and supranational representation works. • How the European institutional system represents EU citizens through law and administration. Focusing on the importance of representation in the legitimation of democracy, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of European Union politics, European studies, democratic theory, representation studies, civil society and transnational democracy.

Democratic Dilemmas of Multilevel Governance

Democratic Dilemmas of Multilevel Governance PDF Author: J. DeBardeleben
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 0230591787
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 270

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Book Description
Focusing on the EU, this volume, with a combination of theoretical perspectives and empirical research, examines the problems multilevel governance causes for democratic legitimacy by placing it in a comparative and theoretical context, and explore how challenges faced by the EU compare with those faced by traditional federal systems worldwide.

People and Parliament in the European Union

People and Parliament in the European Union PDF Author: Jean Blondel
Publisher: Clarendon Press
ISBN: 0191522031
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
The power of the European Parliament has been steadily and visibly increasing in recent years. This arises from EU treaty changes and from the fact that more and more decisions are being made at the European level. At the same time, however, the already low rate of turnout in European elections has actually been declining. This powerful new study examines a seemingly paradoxical situation which has raised deep concern about the democratic deficit in the European Union. The authors analyse the concepts of participation, democracy, and legitimacy and their applicability at the European level and develop a typology of voter participation and abstention in the European context. Combining extensive new data from specially commissioned surveys in all 1994 member states with a searching review of the existing evidence, they provide a comprehensive account of the legitimacy of the European Union and examine the images of the European Parliament, citizens experiences of the 1994 campaign and their perceptions of the parties and the candidates. In an analysis that challenges existing interpretations, the institutional, demographic, and attitudinal sources of participation and abstention are fully explored. The study concludes by considering how participation and democratic representation might be enhanced, acknowledging forthrightly the obstacles and inherent limits that such efforts are likely to face.