Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Even though European government agencies increasingly gain influence over national and regional politics, the nation state remains the political space for public debates and citizen participation. This phenomenon is at the core of the European Union's 'democratic deficit'. Compensation for this deficiency is seen in the emergence of European public spheres, where collective actors such as political parties, interest groups, social movements and the like try to affect directly or indirectly the policy-making processes at EU level.
The paper gives a brief introduction to the state of the art research in the field of a European public sphere (EPS), with special focus on the relation of political mobilization and communication to European institutions and policies. Firstly the EPS will be discussed briefly relating to theories of democracy. In a next step conditions for political contestation will be outlined as well as the way it could take place in policy-making processes at EU level. In the third section an approach will be introduced that shows how to measure the degree of Europeanization in policy fields. Finally issues will be raised that could be relevant for future studies in this field.