Conrad / Knaut / Böttger Bridging the Gap?

Opportunities and Constraints of the European Citizens' Initiative
1. Auflage 2016
ISBN: 978-3-8452-6613-8
Verlag: Nomos
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, Band 97, 226 Seiten, Format (B × H): 153 mm x 227 mm

Reihe: Europäische Schriften

Three years after the introduction of the European Citizens‘ Initiative, the present volume offers a critical, but nonetheless cautiously optimistic perspective on the opportunities and constraints of this novel tool of transnational participatory democracy. Bringing together a wide range of ECI researchers, the volume combines theoretical discussions on the nature and contribution of the ECI with empirical perspectives on the experiences of the first initiatives launched since April 2012. The contributions show that the ECI is difficult to place as an instrument of participatory democracy, owing to considerable ambiguity as regards its merely indirect agenda-setting function. More importantly, the ECI has so far only in part been able to fulfill the high expectations held by academics, activists and ECI organizers alike. The conclusions of the volume are, therefore, somewhat ambivalent: while the ECI clearly has significant democratizing potential, the experience of the first three years also points to a considerable need for reform.
With contributions by:

Jeannette Behringer, Carsten Berg, Katrin Böttger, Maximilian Conrad, Marie Dufrasne, Louis Bouza Garcia, Pawel Glogowski, Justin Greenwood, Annette Knaut, Julian Plottka, Yannick Polchow und Freyja Steingrímsdóttir.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Conrad, Maximilian

Knaut, Annette

Böttger, Katrin

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Internationale Beziehungen Europäische Union, Europapolitik
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Kultur Politische Kommunikation und Partizipation

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1;Cover;1
2; Introduction: The ECI at Three – More Constraints than Opportunities?;11
3; The ECI – An Overview of Opportunities and Constraints;17
4; Rethinking the Imaginary of the Public Sphere: Transnational Discursive Spaces and the ECI;48
5; The ECI’s Contribution to the Emergence of a European Public Sphere;65
6; Just Sweets for the People? The ECI as a Participatory Tool Towards Pluralistic Democracy in the EU;82
7; The ECI as a Hybrid Participatory Genre;96
8; A Tool for European Citizens? A Typology of ECI Organizers 2012–2015;113
9; ECIs in Social Media: Transnational Discursive Spaces in the Making?;129
10; What is a successful ECI?;150
11; From Consensus to Majoritarian EU-level Democracy? The ECI as an Example of Constitutional Change;170
12; Heavy Stones in the Road: The ECI in Practice;200
13; Bridging the Gap? Concluding Remarks on Various Contributions of the ECI;220
14; Notes on Contributors;224