Probing the EU Public Sphere: Participation and Civic Cultures

• Main Author: Peter Dahlgren
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Rosenberg & Sellier 2015-11-01
• Series: Quaderni di Sociologia
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/qds/283

Whether the EU could ever become a functioning democracy remains one of the most central political questions facing the continent. In democracies, civic participation is predicated on factors of both structure and culture, and my aim in this article is to explore the dilemmas that derive from these contingencies. With a focus on citizens’ participation in the public sphere, I apply a framework I call civic cultures to better highlight what is involved in the calls for a more democratic EU and a functioning EU public sphere. I begin by looking at two studies that address the overarching challenges that an EU public sphere faces – and highlight what is at stake in their respective definitions of the public sphere. This ushers us into a conceptual discussion about participation and the notion of ‘the political’. Thereafter I introduce the framework of civic cultures, with its six dimensions, and briefly connect them to the issues around EU civic participation. My goal is to conceptually illuminate what participation actually involves and to situate this perspective in the context of the current debates. I conclude with some reflections on the prospects for EU democracy and participation, refracted through the lens of civic cultures.