University of Twente Student Theses
Debating on the EU: To what extent does the European Citizens’ Initiative lead to public deliberation?
Overbeck, Anna (2015) Debating on the EU: To what extent does the European Citizens’ Initiative lead to public deliberation?
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| Abstract: | It is widely acknowledged that the EU faces a problem of democratic legitimacy. To find out how this could improve, this thesis views the most recent participatory instrument set up by the EU, the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI). It is analyzed if this instrument leads to public debate on EU policies. The promotion of public debate triggered by the ECI has been one of the aims of EU decision-makers in order to support the building of a European public sphere, which is assumed to enhance EU legitimacy. Public debate is regarded with deliberation theory. Criteria for its measurement are retrieved by referring to mediated public deliberation as framed by Jürgen Habermas and Benjamin Page. A case study on the ECI ‘Right2Water’ is conducted through the collection of factual information and by carrying out a qualitative content analysis on the press coverage of the leading German quality newspaper ‘Süddeutsche Zeitung’. It is found that the ECI does not seem to contribute to the deliberative quality of public debate on EU policies. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Bachelor) |
| Faculty: | BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences |
| Subject: | 89 political science |
| Programme: | Management Society and Technology BSc (56654) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/67554 |
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