The Challenge of Democratic Representation in the European Union

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.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: Political Representation in the EU: A Second Transformation?; S.Kröger & D.Friedrich PART I: WHO REPRESENTS WHOM? ISSUES OF REPRESENTATIVENESS Political Parties at the European Level: Do They Satisfy the Condition of Programmatic Convergence?; E.Sigalas & J.Pollak Interparliamentary Cooperation and Democratic Representation in the European Union; C.Fasone The Committee of the Regions and the Upgrading of Subnational Territorial Representation; S.Piattoni Who do They Represent? Mixed Modes of Representation in EU-based CSOs; H.Johansson Representing Their Members? Civil Society Organizations in the EU's External Relations; M.Rodekamp PART II: THE POLITICS OF CLAIMS-MAKING The Plural Representative Space: How Mass Media and National Parliaments Stimulate Pluralism Through Competition; P.de Wilde A Media Perspective on Political Representation: Online Claims Making and Audience Formation in 2009 EP Election Campaigns; A.Michailidou & H-J.Trenz Unelected Representatives in the Europolitical Field. CSOs Between Berlin and Brussels; E.Jentges PART III: REPERCUSSIONS OF THE EU ON POLITICAL REPRESENTATION From the Margins of European Integration to the Guardians of the Treaties? The Role of National Parliaments in the EU; T.Raunio The Europeanization of Regional Assemblies: a Comparison Between Different Ways of Approaching the Representative Challenge in EU Affairs; E.Griglio Interest Representation in the EU, is there any? A Top-down Perspective; S.Smismans Democracy Promoter or Interest Defender? How the European Commission Influences Non-electoral Representation by Civil Society Organizations; S.Kröger Representing Workers or Presenting EU Prescriptions? Trade Unions from Post-Socialist Member States in EU Multi-level Governance; H.Pleines Conclusion: Transformation as Differentiation. The Diversity of Representation in the European Union; D.Friedrich & S.Kröger Bibliography

About the Author :
PIETER DE WILDE Senior Researcher at the Social Science Research Center Berlin, Germany CRISTINA FASONE PhD candidate in Comparative Public Law at the University of Siena, Italy ELENA GRIGLIO Research Fellow in Public Comparative Law at the Luiss Guido Carli of Rome, Italy ERIK JENTGES Post-doctoral Researcher at the Institute of Mass Communication and Media Studies at the University of Zürich, Switzerland HÅKAN JOHANSSON Associate Professor at the School of Social Work, Lund University, Sweden AKOS KOPPER Researcher at PERIPATO Research Group, ELTE University and Lecturer at the Graduate School of Social Sciences of ELTE University, Budapest, Hungary ASIMINA MICHAILIDOU Post-doctoral researcher at ARENA Centre for European Studies, University of Oslo, Norway SIMONA PIATTONI Professor of European Integration Politics at the University of Innsbruck, Austria HEIKO PLEINES Head of the Section on Politics and Economy of the Center for Central and East European Studies, University of Bremen, Germany JOHANNES POLLAK Head of the Political Science Department of the Institute for Advanced Studies, Vienna, Austria TAPIO RAUNIO Professor in Political Science at the University of Tampere, Finland MEIKE RODEKAMP Researcher at the Collaborative Research Center 'Transformations of the State', University of Bremen, Germany EMMANUEL SIGALAS Post-doctoral Researcher at the Institute for European Integration Research of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, Austria STIJN SMISMANS Professor in Law and holder of the Jean Monnet Chair in European Law and Governance at Cardiff University, UK HANS-JÖRG TRENZ Professor at ARENA, Oslo, Norway