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Przegląd Europejski – European Studies Quarterly

Methodological aspects of measuring the effectiveness of the EU participatory mechanisms: the case of the European citizens’ initiative.

2017, 2017 (44), No. 2

Karolina Borońska-Hryniewiecka

0000-0002-0496-5163

Uniwersytet Wrocławski

DOI

10.31338/1641-2478pe.2.17.1

Publication date

29.11.2017

Publishing model

open access

License type

CC BY 4.0 Int.

Field

Social sciences

Discipline

international relations, economics and finance, communication and media studies, political science and public administration, management and quality studies, law, sociology

Language of publication

English

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Article

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Abstract

This paper proposes a research design which allows for a comprehensive assessment of the effectiveness of the European citizens’ initiative (ECI) – the first EU transnational participatory tool. It provides an analytical framework based on a broader conceptualisation of the notion of “effectiveness” which goes beyond the sole legislative function of the ECI. Consequently, the paper suggests to evaluate the ECI in five different dimensions: as a dialogue and communication enhancing tool, an awareness-raising tool, a deliberative space, a citizen-activating mechanism, as well as an agenda-setting instrument. Operationalisation of the dependent variable through a set of democratic functions that the ECI might perform allows not only to evaluate its capacity to enhance the democratic legitimacy of the EU but also to identify the tool’s limitations and propose ways of improvement. The paper also suggests a qualitative method of testing the hypothesised effects of the ECI.

Keywords:

European citizens’ initiative,participatory democracy,European Commission

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