The European Union: How Democratic Is It?

Taking as its starting point the major issues of democracy which are the ongoing concerns of every liberal Western political system, this volume offers a wide-ranging review of democracy in the European Union. It treats the EU as a new type of political system within the tradition of parliamentary democracies, a system which is neither federal nor intergovernmental, and which consequently has unique problems of how to handle democratic requirements.

Part One deals with the two major challenges of interest articulation in the EU, political parties and lobbying. The second part discusses how democracy becomes the key element in the linkage between the EU and its member states, focusing on France, Italy and Belgium where the r

Taking as its starting point the major issues of democracy which are the ongoing concerns of every liberal Western political system, this volume offers a wide-ranging review of democracy in the European Union. It treats the EU as a new type of political system within the tradition of parliamentary democracies, a system which is neither federal nor intergovernmental, and which consequently has unique problems of how to handle democratic requirements.

Part One deals with the two major challenges of interest articulation in the EU, political parties and lobbying. The second part discusses how democracy becomes the key element in the linkage between the EU and its member states, focusing on France, Italy and Belgium where the relation to the EU constitutes an important part of the national democratic debate. The third part focuses on democratic aspects of key EU institutions - the European Council, the European Commission and the European Parliament. The final part looks at democracy in relation to possible EU development generally, and in the context of societal change which may tend to undermine the role of parliamentary institutions.

Introduction - Svein S Andersen and Kjell A Eliassen
Dilemmas, Contradictions and the Future of European Democracy
PART ONE: NUMERICAL DEMOCRACY, CORPORATIVE PLURALISM AND LOBBYING IN EUROPEAN POLITICS
Euro-Parties and European Parties - Mogens N Pedersen
New Arenas, New Challenges and New Strategies
EU-Lobbying - Svein S Andersen and Kjell A Eliassen
Between Representativity and Effectiveness
The Modern West European State and the European Union - Wolgang Wessels
Democratic Erosion or a New Kind of Polity?
PART TWO: EU POLICY-MAKING AND NATIONAL INSTITUTIONS
The French EU Decision-Making - Christian Lequesne
Between Destablization and Adaptation
European Policy-Making and National Institutions - The Case of Belgium - Cecilia Andersen
Italy - Federiga Maria Bindi
In Need of More EU Democracy
PART THREE: EUROPEAN INSTITUTIONS: LEGITIMACY AND DEMOCRACY
The Role of the Commission - Finn Laursen
The Role of the Council - Fiona Hayes-Renshaw
Voting Power under the EU Constitution - Jan E Lane, Reinert Moeland and Sven Berg
The European Parliament - Juliet Lodge
PART FOUR: THE FUTURE OF EU DEMOCRACY
The European Union - Rolf Gustavsson
1996 and beyond a Personal View from the Side-Line
The European Union and the Erosion of Parliamentary Democracy - Svein S Andersen and Tom Burns
A Study of Post-Parliamentary Governance
Democracy - Svein S Andersen and Kjell A Eliassen
Traditional Concerns in New Institutional Settings