From the Introduction
In this article, we first outline this institutional version of deliberative democratic theory, which draws on the following explanatory mechanisms: claims-making, justification, and learning (which in turn encodes deliberative copying and emulation mechanisms). We then apply this framework to the EU to demonstrate its relevance for explaining the distinct pattern of democratization the EU has undergone thus far.
This account does not include the most recent efforts by the EU to handle the financial crisis. These efforts will weaken the democratic arrangements at both EU and member state levels but most likely will not alter the basic multilevel structure. In the concluding section, we present some of the implications that a multilevel system of tightly interwoven parliaments brings up for the theory and practice of representative democracy.
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Erik Oddvar Eriksen and John Erik Fossum
Representation through Deliberation – The European Case