Strategic Research Programme: Evaluating Democratic Governance in Europe (EDGE)

The key problem underlying democratic governance in Europe is that political participation and decision making appear in a number of new forms and acquire new meanings which increasingly challenge the format and the underlying normative canvas of modern democracy. Quite crucial in this respect is the fact that national and international politics overlap and interact ever more. Politics in national states – where the forms and practices of modern democracy were developed – are deeply affected by the international economic, financial, ecological and cultural environment. New and quite hybrid institutional constructions like the European Union have become powerful but also quite contested actors shaping the life of the citizens and the decision-making processes and opportunities of the member states.