Participation in the European Decision-Making Process and the "European Citizens' Initiative"

What democracy means and should mean have been subject to change, for democracy has undergone transformations over time. Robert Dahl defines the last transformation that democracy undergone now is a process, in which the transnational systems reduce the national states' political economic, soci...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Uluslararası hukuk ve politika 2011-01, Vol.7 (26), p.29-54
Main Author: Yigit, Dilek
Format: Article
Language:Turkish
Subjects:
Autonomy
Citizen Participation
Citizens
Conceptualization
Decision Making
Democracy
Democratization
Europe
European parliament
European Union
Legislative Bodies
Parliament
Political institutions
Political representation
Representative Democracy
Transnationalism
Treaties
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Summary:What democracy means and should mean have been subject to change, for democracy has undergone transformations over time. Robert Dahl defines the last transformation that democracy undergone now is a process, in which the transnational systems reduce the national states' political economic, social and cultural autonomy. In this process, there is a question we face is of whether democracy is confined to the nation-state. In other words, is democracy thinkable beyond the nation state? To answer this question, the European Union can be taken as a model for transnational democracy. By way of this model, we observe a transnational system can create a political structure and decision-making process based on both representative democracy and participatory democracy. Strengthening the roles of the representative institutions -- the European Parliament and the national parliaments -- in the European decision making process enhances the democratic quality of the Union in sense of representative democracy. Besides, new initiatives have been taken to get European citizens more involved in the European decision-making process in sense of participatory democracy. One of them is the European Citizens' Initiative, which was introduced by the Treaty of Lisbon as an innovative step to enhance the democratic quality of the Union. Adapted from the source document.
ISSN:1305-5208