Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: With the transferral of considerable power to supra-national institutions the process of European integration raises fundamental questions about the range and meaning of democratic rule. It sheds light on the growing incongruity between sites of economic and political power on the one hand and the institutional reach of principles of democratic accountability and citizens' involvement in the political decision-making process on the other hand. Although often perceived as a successful test case for a trans-national, cosmopolitan form of democracy the EU faces a range of obstacles in addressing its endemic 'democratic deficit'. Discussing the related current reforms of the European Union this paper will spell out the institutional and socio-cultural challenges in extending democratic rule beyond national borders. The argument will be developed that making democracy work at the European level will only partly resemble national forms of parliamentary democratic and will rely on a different set of institutional and deliberative practices. This hypothesis will be based on a critical evaluation of the emerging European public sphere as well as of the role of non-governmental actors and parties in the decision-making process.