The Challenge of Democratic Representation in the European Union

What does political representation in the European Union look like? Which actors claim to act as representatives of which constituency? What role does the EU play in (re)shaping political representation? This volume addresses these questions, adding to the emerging debate on political representation and democracy in the EU, and includes original conceptual and empirical chapters by emerging and leading scholars in the field. It clarifies the roles of different political actors such as parliaments, civil society organizations and subnational authorities. It explores representative claims made by these actors in different contexts, be it the digital public sphere or parliaments, and elucidates the impact of the EU on the institutions and practices of political representation. The volume argues that the transformation of representation in the EU is characterized by processes of diversification, albeit with an uncertain ability to re-configure the link between representation and democracy

Introduction: Political Representation in the EU: A Second Transformation?; S.Kröger & D.Friedrich PART I: WHO REPRESENTS WHOM? ISSUES OF REPRESENTATIVENESS Political Parties at the European Level: Do They Satisfy the Condition of Programmatic Convergence?; E.Sigalas & J.Pollak Interparliamentary Cooperation and Democratic Representation in the European Union; C.Fasone The Committee of the Regions and the Upgrading of Subnational Territorial Representation; S.Piattoni Who do They Represent? Mixed Modes of Representation in EU-based CSOs; H.Johansson Representing Their Members? Civil Society Organizations in the EU's External Relations; M.Rodekamp PART II: THE POLITICS OF CLAIMS-MAKING The Plural Representative Space: How Mass Media and National Parliaments Stimulate Pluralism Through Competition; P.de Wilde A Media Perspective on Political Representation: Online Claims Making and Audience Formation in 2009 EP Election Campaigns; A.Michailidou & H-J.Trenz Unelected Representatives in the Europolitical Field. CSOs Between Berlin and Brussels; E.Jentges PART III: REPERCUSSIONS OF THE EU ON POLITICAL REPRESENTATION From the Margins of European Integration to the Guardians of the Treaties? The Role of National Parliaments in the EU; T.Raunio The Europeanization of Regional Assemblies: a Comparison Between Different Ways of Approaching the Representative Challenge in EU Affairs; E.Griglio Interest Representation in the EU, is there any? A Top-down Perspective; S.Smismans Democracy Promoter or Interest Defender? How the European Commission Influences Non-electoral Representation by Civil Society Organizations; S.Kröger Representing Workers or Presenting EU Prescriptions? Trade Unions from Post-Socialist Member States in EU Multi-level Governance; H.Pleines Conclusion: Transformation as Differentiation. The Diversity of Representation in the European Union; D.Friedrich & S.Kröger Bibliography