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Ideal companions? The European Citizens’ Initiative and the European Parliament

Tyllström, Camilla LU (2016) STVM23 20161
Department of Political Science
Abstract
How can a European Union citizen have a say in Brussels? The European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) is a unique participatory democracy tool for citizens. A politically sensitive revision is currently discussed – how much should the citizens directly be involved? One of the actors involved is the European Parliament (EP). The EP has been neglected in research about the ECI, despite being one of the co-legislators contributing to it’s existence and being active in the debate. How do they view the ECI? This thesis aims to uncover the relations between the EP and ECI campaigners, using ideal types to gain a better understanding of ECI campaigners view on the EP. Using grounded theory to analyze official material and interviews with ECI and EP... (More)
How can a European Union citizen have a say in Brussels? The European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) is a unique participatory democracy tool for citizens. A politically sensitive revision is currently discussed – how much should the citizens directly be involved? One of the actors involved is the European Parliament (EP). The EP has been neglected in research about the ECI, despite being one of the co-legislators contributing to it’s existence and being active in the debate. How do they view the ECI? This thesis aims to uncover the relations between the EP and ECI campaigners, using ideal types to gain a better understanding of ECI campaigners view on the EP. Using grounded theory to analyze official material and interviews with ECI and EP actors, this thesis conclude that while ECI actors are viewing the EP as a vital partner, they also acknowledge its limited powers in the ECI process. The EP actors argue the ECI to be an important tool, but in need of revision and also that many MEP’s feel uneasy with some of the issues brought up by ECI’s. The results also suggest that the ECI could represent a new ideal type of influence in the EU. (Less)
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author
Tyllström, Camilla LU
supervisor
organization
course
STVM23 20161
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
The European Citizen’s Initiative, The European Parliament, Ideal Types, Political influence, Participatory democracy
language
English
id
8888023
date added to LUP
2016-11-02 17:24:40
date last changed
2016-11-02 17:24:40
@misc{8888023,
  abstract     = {{How can a European Union citizen have a say in Brussels? The European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) is a unique participatory democracy tool for citizens. A politically sensitive revision is currently discussed – how much should the citizens directly be involved? One of the actors involved is the European Parliament (EP). The EP has been neglected in research about the ECI, despite being one of the co-legislators contributing to it’s existence and being active in the debate. How do they view the ECI? This thesis aims to uncover the relations between the EP and ECI campaigners, using ideal types to gain a better understanding of ECI campaigners view on the EP. Using grounded theory to analyze official material and interviews with ECI and EP actors, this thesis conclude that while ECI actors are viewing the EP as a vital partner, they also acknowledge its limited powers in the ECI process. The EP actors argue the ECI to be an important tool, but in need of revision and also that many MEP’s feel uneasy with some of the issues brought up by ECI’s. The results also suggest that the ECI could represent a new ideal type of influence in the EU.}},
  author       = {{Tyllström, Camilla}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Ideal companions? The European Citizens’ Initiative and the European Parliament}},
  year         = {{2016}},
}