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Democratic Responsiveness in the European Union: the Case of the Council. LEQS Discussion Paper No. 94/2015 June 2015

Wratil, Christopher (2015) Democratic Responsiveness in the European Union: the Case of the Council. LEQS Discussion Paper No. 94/2015 June 2015. [Discussion Paper]

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    Abstract

    Governments’ responsiveness to citizens’ preferences is a key assessment criterion of democratic quality. This paper assesses responsiveness to public opinion in European Union politics with the example of governments’ position-taking in the Council of the EU. The analysis demonstrates that governments’ willingness to adopt negotiation positions that reflect public opinion systematically varies with their electoral incentives flowing from domestic arenas. Governments behave responsive in EU legislative negotiations if they face majoritarian electoral systems at home, when elections are imminent, and when parties or EU-related events trigger the public salience of integration. These findings have important implications for the debate on the EU’s democratic deficit and our understanding of democratic responsiveness outside the national political arena.

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    Item Type: Discussion Paper
    Subjects for non-EU documents: EU policies and themes > EU institutions & developments > Council of Ministers
    EU policies and themes > Policies & related activities > political affairs > democracy/democratic deficit
    Subjects for EU documents: UNSPECIFIED
    EU Series and Periodicals: UNSPECIFIED
    EU Annual Reports: UNSPECIFIED
    Series: Series > London School of Economics and Political Science (European Institute) > LEQS Discussion Papers
    Depositing User: Phil Wilkin
    Official EU Document: No
    Language: English
    Date Deposited: 07 Aug 2018 21:20
    Number of Pages: 48
    Last Modified: 07 Aug 2018 21:20
    URI: http://aei.pitt.edu/id/eprint/93654

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