TY - JOUR

T1 - Introduction: The representative turn in EU Studies

AU - Kröger, Sandra

AU - Friedrich, Dawid

N1 - Special Issue: The representative turn in EU studies

PY - 2013/2/1

Y1 - 2013/2/1

N2 - In everyday discourse, democracy has become associated with representation. Western-style political systems today are generally categorized as representative democracies, as is the EU. The Treaty of Lisbon declares the EU to be founded on representative democracy, with political equality as its normative foundation. However, contemporary processes of diversification, not least that of European integration, pose severe challenges to the historically contingent link between democracy and representation. Consequently, many scholars indicate a democratic deficit in the EU, which the current debt crisis has accentuated even further. This introduction takes stock of recent theoretical debates and identifies three key issues which it then links to the contributions to this collection: namely, (1) a decisive shift in the understanding of the representative relationship; (2) an increased attention to non-electoral representation, specifically civil society (organizations); and (3) the debate about whether democratic competences are best located at the supranational or the national level. We close by reflecting on potential future avenues for research.

AB - In everyday discourse, democracy has become associated with representation. Western-style political systems today are generally categorized as representative democracies, as is the EU. The Treaty of Lisbon declares the EU to be founded on representative democracy, with political equality as its normative foundation. However, contemporary processes of diversification, not least that of European integration, pose severe challenges to the historically contingent link between democracy and representation. Consequently, many scholars indicate a democratic deficit in the EU, which the current debt crisis has accentuated even further. This introduction takes stock of recent theoretical debates and identifies three key issues which it then links to the contributions to this collection: namely, (1) a decisive shift in the understanding of the representative relationship; (2) an increased attention to non-electoral representation, specifically civil society (organizations); and (3) the debate about whether democratic competences are best located at the supranational or the national level. We close by reflecting on potential future avenues for research.

KW - Politics

KW - civil society

KW - democratic deficit

KW - democratic theory

KW - EU

KW - Representation

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84872546808&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1080/13501763.2013.746569

DO - 10.1080/13501763.2013.746569

M3 - Journal articles

VL - 20

SP - 155

EP - 170

JO - Journal of European Public Policy

JF - Journal of European Public Policy

SN - 1350-1763

IS - 2

ER -