Workshop

Strengthening democracy in the EU: Alternative forms of representation

WP 2 - Constitutional Politics, WP 3 - Representation and Institutional Make-up, WP 5 - Civil Society and the Public Sphere

Bremen, 14-15 July 2011

Venue: Gästehaus der Universität, Teerhof

Coordinators: Ulrike Liebert and Tatjana Evas, Jean Monnet Centre, University of Bremen

This workshop focuses on a key problem of the EU’s democratic legitimacy that the German Constitutional Court outlined in its 2009 Lisbon Ruling: The limits of a representative system of government based on direct parliamentary elections in a (con)federation of nation states. The key question is whether and how democratic representation in the polycentric EU could be strengthened by supplementing, displacing or transforming the classical institutions of representative democracy – elections and parliaments – by alternatives, such as functional, policy, discursive or public modes of representation.

For assessing the varieties of representation in EU policy-making, the strengths and limits of their evolving practices and institutional reforms, we bring together findings from the RECON project. Topics include critical assessments of representation in the multilevel parliamentary field of the EU (WP 3), studies of the role of courts in reconstituting democracy in Europe (WP 2) and civil society and the public sphere (WP 5).

This exploration is premised on the assumption that systems of representative government are designed to realize ‘the democratic ideal of giving kratos to the demos, power to the people’ (Pettit, p. 61). In modern representative democracy, elections and parliaments constitute the institutional framework for achieving this aim. For the present purpose, we adopt a broader notion of representation to describe the relationship between representatives (or representers) and the represented (or the representees) in such a way ‘that any public authorities, and any citizens who assume a legitimate role in public discourse, may make a legitimate claim to represent the people’ (P. Pettit, ‘Varieties of public representation’, in I. Shapiro et al., Political Representation, Cambridge University Press, 2010, pp. 61-2).

The workshop is also designed as a forum for discussing these key questions in view of options for strengthening representation and democracy in the EU through parliaments, courts, civil society and the mass media.

The format consists of the presentation of focused, argumentative ‘short papers’ of approx. 5-8 pages – to be circulated by end-June among all participants – followed by comments and discussions. The expected outcome is a book (or journal special issue) that proposes and discusses recommendations on how to strengthen democratic representation in the EU (approx. 15 papers).

Read more on the overall research objectives of RECON.

Programme (download pdf)

Thursday, 14 July 2011
13:00-13:30	Registration
13:30-13:45	Introduction Ulrike Liebert and Tatjana Evas, University of Bremen
13:45:14:45	Keynote Philippe C. Schmitter, European University Institute, Florence
15:00-18:00	Panel I: Re-assessing Representative Structures and Practices of the EU’s Multilevel Parliamentary Field Chair: Ulrike Liebert
15:00-15:10	Introduction Ulrike Liebert, University of Bremen
15:10-15:30	Ensuring Political Equality? The European Parliament and the Democratic Performance of the EU Christopher Lord, ARENA, University of Oslo and Johannes Pollak, Webster University, Vienna
15:30-15:50	European Citizen's Two Representation Channels and their Political Interplay in the EU's Multilevel Parliamentary Field Ben Crum, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and John Erik Fossum, ARENA, University of Oslo
15:50-16:10	A Crisis of Representing Europeans? Richard Rose, University of Aberdeen
16:10-16:30	The Challenge of Representation in the EU Richard Bellamy, University College London and Sandra Kröger, University of Bremen
16:30-17:00	Comments Philippe C. Schmitter, European University Institute, Florence Carlos Closa, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC), Madrid Aleksandra Maatsch, University of Bremen
17:00-18:00	Discussion
Friday, 15 July 2011
09:30-12:30	Panel II: The Role of Courts in Reconstituting Democracy in Europe: Unaccounted Players or Arenas for Citizen's Representation? Chair: Norbert Reich
09:30-09:40	Introduction Norbert Reich, University of Bremen
09:40-10:00	The Social Ideal of the European Court of Justice Dagmar Schiek, University of Leeds
10:00-10:20	Constitutional Courts and European Integration: Constructing a Systemic Relationship Carlos Closa, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC), Madrid
10:20-10:40	Lessons from Mass Litigation in and for Europe Harald Koch, Humboldt University Berlin
10:40-11:00	Coherence in Application of European Union Law: National Courts Perspective Tatjana Evas, University of Bremen
11:00-12:30	Comments Norbert Reich, University of Bremen Richard Bellamy, University College London Petra Guasti, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague/Julius-Maximilian University, Würzburg Discussion
13:30-16:00	Panel III: Combining or Colliding? Alternative Forms of Democratic Representation in the EU: Political Parties, Civil Society and the Public Sphere Chair: Christopher Lord
13:30-13:40	Introduction Christopher Lord, ARENA, University of Oslo
13:40-14:00	Euroscepticism in EU Elections and Referendums Hans-Jörg Trenz, ARENA, University of Oslo/University of Copenhagen
14:00-14:20	National Parties, Parliaments and European Political Discourses Aleksandra Maatsch, University of Bremen
14:20-14:40	Democratic Representation as Public Responsiveness: Political Parties, Civil Society, and the Mass Media in EU Policy-making Ulrike Liebert, University of Bremen
14:40-16:00	Comments Philippe C. Schmitter, European University Institute, Florence Richard Rose, University of Aberdeen Martin Heidenreich, Carl von Ossietzky University, Oldenburg Discussion
16:15-17:30	Round Table: Lessons from RECON Research for the Reconstitution of Democratic Representation in the EU Chair: Ulrike Liebert Participants: Richard Bellamy Carlos Closa Tatjana Evas Petra Guasti Christopher Lord Norbert Reich Richard Rose Dagmar Schiek Philippe C. Schmitter Hans-Jörg Trenz
	The workshop is open to the public and free of charge, but those interested should register by emailing Tatjana Evas (ta_ev[at]uni-bremen.de) by 12 July 2011. For more information, please contact Ulrike Liebert (liebert[at]uni-bremen.de) or Tatjana Evas (ta_ev[at]uni-bremen.de), Jean Monnet Centre for European Studies (CEuS) at the University of Bremen.