Open AccessDemocracy and New Media in the European Union: Communication or Participation Deficit?
Author(s) -
Asimina Michailidou
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of contemporary european research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.299
H-Index - 15
ISSN - 1815-347X
DOI - 10.30950/jcer.v4i4.129
Subject(s) - transparency (behavior) , european union , legitimacy , openness to experience , commission , the internet , politics , political science , political communication , democratic deficit , public relations , democracy , public administration , public sphere , public opinion , business , law , psychology , social psychology , world wide web , computer science , economic policy
At the heart of most academic and political debates regarding the future of the European Union lie three key ideas: openness and transparency; citizens’ participation in the decision-making process; and democratic legitimacy. Scholars and EU policy-makers have advocated the use of new media, particularly the Internet, in the democratising process of the EU.This article focuses on the top-down aspect of the online European public dialogue and the opportunities that the EU’s public communication strategy offers to citizens for involvement in shaping the Union’s political nature.Following a ‘multi-method’ approach for the gathering of empirical data, the Internet’s role in the EU’s public communication strategy is examined here from four aspects: the European Commission’s public communication policies (document analysis); the Commission’s implementation of its online policies (website analysis); their impact on key Internet audiences (user survey); and the views of policy-makers (semi-structured interviews with senior Commission officials).