Product Description: It is often argued that the enhanced consultation of civil society contributes to the democratization of European and global governance. This collection investigates whether this theoretical argument is supported by empirical evidence...read more

Product Description: Europe and Civil Society provides an in-depth examination of how public interest groups and social movements seek to influence the European policy-making process. The book is based on a comparison of the role of networks of activists and their allies - broadly defined as Movement Advocacy Coalitions - in influencing decision-making at the European Union level in three specific areas of policy-making: environmentalism, anti-racism and ethno-nationalist regionalism...read more

Product Description: This is a study in EU legitimacy from the perspective of EU citizens. Mather argues that legitimacy is empirical: 'legitimacy only exists if people feel that it does' and that the EU is a unique and dynamic institution, hence legitimating factors are also evolutionary.

Product Description: European citizenship has been a key issue since the Treaty of Maastricht. Both governmental and non-governmental actors have seen the extension of the citizenship provisions as an important part of the drive to democratize the EU...read more

Product Description: Pragmatics is the study of human communication: the choices speakers make to express their intended meaning and the kinds of inferences that hearers draw from an utterance in the context of its use. This Handbook surveys pragmatics from different perspectives, presenting the main theories in pragmatic research, incorporating seminal research as well as cutting-edge solutions...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

The contributors to this book examine the issues of constitutional choice that face the governments and citizens of today's Europe. Divided into three sections this study addresses: questions of political legitimacy and the meaning of democratic deficit in the EU; the reality of what institutional reforms and decision making processes are possible; and the rights of citizenship and values that should be protected.

Product Description: The book provides an assessment of European Union communications policy judged against democratic and normative criteria within the framework of the question of the need for a European wide public sphere. Taking as a starting point the democratic deficit and the problem of a lack of a developed public sphere at a level that is equal in scale and scope to the decision making bodies of the European Community, the book evaluates the extent to which, the EU has attempted to employ communication policy to support democratic media...read more

Product Description: Clearly discusses the impact and uses of interest representation in the development of the EU system.* Examines the complexities of representation at EU level, a vital issue for potential lobbyists and interest groups* Charts new trends and issues such as enlargement, Europeanization and Central and Eastern Europe* Contributions by acknowledged experts with a proven track record of research and publication in this field, including seven current and past practitioners of EU politics with experience as lobbyists from either institutional, NGO or corporate perspectives* Places interest representation in its historical and theoretical context...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: Is the process of European integration shifting the targets of social movements from the national arena to the European Union level? Does the EU remain isolated from the reach of national democratic politics? Or are social movements responding to the transnational issues posed by the European Union, but continuing to do so by treading the traditional pathways of nation-specific contentious politics? Addressing these key but hitherto unexplored questions, this groundbreaking volume explores how European citizens are responding to the growing policymaking power of the EU...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

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