Panels ECPR SGEU virtual conference 2021

Assessing the Europeanisation of Public Spheres Empirically: The Future of Europe Debate

The period 2017-2019 has been a critical juncture for the public sphere because of the coincidence of Mr Macron’s and the EU Commission agenda of citizens’ dialogues, the debate on the future of Europe between the EP and heads of government and state and the European election 2019. This constitutes an ideal occasion to test several dynamics of the European public sphere: the impact of participatory and deliberative mechanisms and social media; the effects of bottom-up and top-down campaigns; the resonance of institutional debates (differentiation, enlargement, new treaties, Spitzenkandidaten) in European publics and the politization of frames of reference and collective action on issues such as rule of law, values or democracy. The panel takes a theoretical perspective to conceptualise the recent trends in the future of Europe debate.

Chair: Nathalie Brack Université Libre de Bruxelles Discussant: Luis Bouza Universidad Autònoma de Madrid

How deep is the East/West divide? Images of the EU in (18) quality newspapers of eight EU member states – Ana Andguladze, Jan Beyer, Ramona Coman and Julie Vander Meulen (CEVIPOL, IEE, ULB)

Differentiated ‘Narratives of Sovereignty’ in the context of the Sibiu Summit and EU elections in 2019 Miruna Butnaru-Troncotă and Dragoș Ioniță, National University of Political Studies and Public Administration (SNSPA)

Can social media create a European public sphere? The case of the Spitzenkandidat system in the 2014 and the 2019 European elections – Luciano Morganti, Stergios Fotopoulos

Using Twitter to Understand EU Politicization in the 2019 EP Election Campaign – Giovanni Pagano Università degli Studi di Milano

Assessing the Europeanisation of public spheres from a theoretical stand-point: the future of Europe debate

The period 2017-2019 has been a critical juncture for the public sphere because of the coincidence of Mr Macron’s and the EU Commission agenda of citizens’ dialogues, the debate on the future of Europe between the EP and heads of government and state and the European election 2019. This constitutes an ideal occasion to test several dynamics of the European public sphere: the impact of participatory and deliberative mechanisms and social media; the effects of bottom-up and top-down campaigns; the resonance of institutional debates (differentiation, enlargement, new treaties, Spitzenkandidaten) in European publics and the politization of frames of reference and collective action on issues such as rule of law, values or democracy. The panel takes a theoretical perspective to conceptualise the recent trends in the future of Europe debate.

Chair: Carlo Ruzza (University of Trento)

Discussant: Álvaro Oleart (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)

Papers

Claims of representation in the EU: constructions, representations and participations of the European demos in the 2017 – 2019 citizens’ consultations – Elena García Guitián  (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid) and Irene Lanzas (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid)

Make Europe great again: the ‘new’ geopolitical pro-European narrative of Macron – Luis Bouza, Autonomous University of Madrid and Alvaro Oleart, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Parliamentary Rhetoric meets Twitter Democracy: Transforming the political arena of Euro-pean democratic debate – Taru Haapala, Autonomous University of Madrid

Feeling European in a Politicized EU: a Postfunctional Theory of Identity – Thomas König Universität Mannheim

The European Rescue of the Rassemblement National: European Parliament Elections as First Order Elections – Niilo Kauppi University of Jyväskylä