Democratic legitimacy and participation in the European Union

Dozent/in	Anna Angela Kandyla, MA
Veranstaltungsart	Masterseminar
Code	FS191481
Semester	Frühjahrssemester 2019
Durchführender Fachbereich	Politikwissenschaft
Studienstufe	Bachelor Master
Termin/e	Do, 21.02.2019, 12:30 - 13:00 Uhr, 3.B47 Fr, 12.04.2019, 09:15 - 17:00 Uhr, HS 2 Sa, 13.04.2019, 09:15 - 17:00 Uhr, 3.B57 Fr, 17.05.2019, 09:15 - 17:00 Uhr, HS 2 Sa, 18.05.2019, 09:15 - 17:00 Uhr, 3.B57
Umfang	2 Semesterwochenstunden
Turnus	Blockveranstaltung
Inhalt	Discussions about democracy, legitimacy and participation have become central to the project of European Union (EU) integration. While attention to these issues remained for years essentially confined within academic circles, recent developments such as the economic and refugee “crises” and the United Kingdom’s EU referendum have brought them into the mainstream political debate and the public domain. Following this important transformation, the aim of this seminar is to expose participants to the current theory and research on the tensions between democratic legitimacy and European integration, their implications for the EU’s relationship with its citizens and the challenges facing democracy beyond the nation-state more broadly. The seminar covers three main themes. First, it presents the background and the major questions in the scholarly debate about the democratic legitimacy of the EU as a political system. Does the EU suffer from a “democratic deficit?” Is it possible (and desirable) to democratise the EU? Second, it examines citizens’ views of democracy in the EU. Are citizens satisfied with democracy in the EU? What are the criteria that citizens use when evaluating the democratic character of the EU? Third, it focuses on the channels for participation that exist at the EU level and the role they play in the EU’s democratic development. What drives participation and vote choice in European Parliament (EP) elections? What are the prospects of citizen and civil society participation in EU decision-making beyond the representative channel? These themes are addressed in two blocks. The first block – based on lecturing – provides an overview of the EU political system, introduces the debate about its democratic legitimacy (session 1) and moves on to conceptions of democracy in the EU from the perspective of the citizens (session 2). Participation in EU level politics and its contribution to democracy in the EU is examined in the second block (sessions 3 and 4). It approaches the EU as a multi-level system that offers various channels of participation operating according to supranational, national/member-state based, and transnational logics drawing on state-of-the-art empirical research (quantitative and qualitative/case studies). More specifically, session 3 focuses on participation and voting behaviour in EP elections and in referendums related to the EU. Session 4 then examines participatory mechanisms for citizen and civil society involvement in EU affairs (such as consultations and the recently introduced European Citizens’ Initiative). Non-institutionalized participation through protest actions and social movement mobilization targeting EU institutions is also touched upon. The second block is based on student presentations and group discussions.
Sprache	Englisch
Anmeldung	Seminar ist für fortgeschrittene BA-Studierende offen und kann als Hauptseminar angerechnet werden.
Abschlussform / Credits	Aktive Teilnahme (Essay, benotet) / 4 Credits
Hörer-/innen	Nach Vereinbarung
Kontakt	anna.kandyla@eui.eu
Material	wird auf OLAT zur Verfügung gestellt