Democratic Legitimacy and the European Union

Abstract

This is an introduction to a Special Issue that first considers representative and deliberative conceptions of democratic legitimacy in the EU, and then presents empirical research on how the institutions of the EU are attempting to increase the democratic legitimacy of the multi‐level political system. The first three articles concern central democratic concepts and use political theory and institutional analysis. The second set of three articles turns to an empirical analysis of the institutions and institutional processes of the EU and the member states, including the European Commission and the media, the European Parliament and the Open Method of Coordination. It is concluded that both representative and deliberative mechanisms within each of the member states and the EU institutions need to be improved in order to increase the democratic legitimacy of the EU among the citizens.

Key Words:

• European Union
• democratic legitimacy
• representation
• deliberative democracy

Acknowledgement

The Editor wishes to thank the following scholars for commenting on the research contained in this Special Issue during four conferences held at the University of Twente, Utrecht School of Governance and University College Utrecht, the Vrije University Amsterdam and the University of Amsterdam, and the University of Maastricht (in order of appearance): Mark Bovens, Frans van Waarden, Claes de Vreese, Peter Mair, Jacques Thomassen, Kees Aarts, Peter Geurts, Markus Haverland, Bernard Steunenberg, Gary Marks, Liesbet Hooghe, Kees van Kersbergen, Antje Wiener, Jaap de Wilde, Veit Bader, Tannelie Blom, Thomas Christiansen, Fabrice Larat, Laszlo Bruszt, Christine Arnold, Christine Neuhold, Peter Bursens, Paolo Graziano and Maarten Vink. Thanks also go to the anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments.