DE-MYSTIFICATION OF PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY by Beate Kohler-Koch, Christine Quittkat ( 9780199674596 )

Item Details

Title:

DE-MYSTIFICATION OF PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY
EU-GOVERNANCE AND CIVIL SOCIETY

By:

Beate Kohler-Koch, Christine Quittkat

Format:

Hardback

List price:

£122.50

Our price:

£107.19

Discount:

12.5% off

You save:

£15.31

ISBN 10:

0199674590

ISBN 13:

9780199674596

Availability:

Usually dispatched within 1-3 weeks.

Delivery rates

Stock:

Currently 0 available

Publisher:

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

Pub. date:

25 July, 2013

Pages:

240

Description:

This book tackles the issue of civil society's democratic input to EU governance. It looks at how participatory democracy, laid down in the Lisbon Treaty and advocated by the Commission, is put into practice and whether the involvement of civil society lives up to the high expectation of upgrading the Union's democratic legitimacy.

Synopsis:

The democratic legitimacy of the European Union has become an increasingly urgent issue. In searching for a way out, academics, EU institutions, and political forces advocate the involvement of civil society. The Commission's new governance approach and the Lisbon Treaty introduced elements of participatory democracy and elevated civil society to a key actor in democratizing the EU. Does this hold upon closer scrutiny? This is the main question of the book. It investigates how the promise of civil society participation is put into practice and, based on an elaborate theoretical framework, evaluates whether the political practice deserves the quality attribute 'participatory democracy'. The book presents the results of a large research project composed of several highly original empirical studies. The research team used various methodological approaches and generated a rich data set. The wealth of empirical insight is evaluated against clear criteria deduced from normative democratic theory.As key elements of the analyses - democracy, participation, and civil society - are contested concepts, the authors placed particular emphasize on clarifying their understanding of these concepts and on considering competing interpretations. By relying on a consistent theoretical approach the authors present an unusually balanced evaluation. They come to convincing, though rather skeptical conclusions. Civil society participation in EU governance is not the democratic remedy its advocates had hoped for. This may not be a welcome but nevertheless it is an important finding both for European decision-makers, for civil society organizations and for scholars.

Illustrations:

8 Figures, 16 Tables

Publication:

Imprint:

Oxford University Press

Returns:

Returnable

Some other items by this author:

BULLYING AMONG PRISONERS

CHANGING IMAGES OF CIVIL SOCIETY