Deliberation and Accountability in the European Union: An Empirical Evaluation of Two Experiments Aimed at the Democracy Deficit
Pepper D. Culpepper & Archon Fung
This project will evaluate the functioning and impact of two large-scale experiments that use deliberative approaches to incorporate public participation in the politics of the European Union. These experiments constitute part of the EU’s “period of reflection” to consider how the Union should move forward following the rejections of the EU constitution in referendums held in France and the Netherlands. As part of the “period of reflection,” the European Commission proposed a “Plan D for Democracy, Dialogue, and Debate” with European publics. The research project aims to evaluate the institutional possibilities for using deliberative forums to increase the democratic accountability of the European Union to its citizens.