O'Brennan, John
(2004)
Ireland's National Forum on Europe: Elite
Deliberation Meets Popular Participation.
Journal of European Integration, 26 (2).
pp. 171-189.
ISSN 0703-6337
Abstract
In the wake of the rejection of the Nice Treaty by the electorate in June
2001, the Irish government moved to establish a National Forum on Europe, which
was to be the arena for a new socially inclusive and highly visible dialogue on issues
arising out of Irish membership of the European Union (EU). The Forum represented
an entirely novel approach to consideration of European affairs in Ireland and, as
such, an acknowledgement that the old era of ‘permissive consensus’ on EU issues
had gone. This article utilises insights from deliberative democracy to analyse the new
Irish discourse on Europe that the Forum has helped articulate. The analysis suggests
that the Forum has successfully widened the scope and substance of Irish attitudes
to Europe. Most importantly, it has helped shift the emphasis from functional costbenefit
considerations related to receipts from the CAP and structural funding, to more
broad-based and ‘mainstream’ consideration, which encompass the broad ambit of
issues connected to the future direction of the European integration project. The article
also argues that the Forum has engaged a wider and more inclusive group of societal
actors in European debate. Thus, Irish EU debate is no longer concentrated
among traditional elites — the political parties, trade unions, business groups and
academics. Finally, the article assesses the extent to which the Forum has encouraged
greater popular participation in EU debate.
Item Type: |
Article
|
Keywords: |
European integration; Ireland and the EU; popular participation; deliberative democracy; democratic deficit; Nice Treaty; |
Academic Unit: |
Faculty of Social Sciences > Sociology |
Item ID: |
7975 |
Identification Number: |
https://doi.org/10.1080/0703633042000222376 |
Depositing User: |
John O'Brennan
|
Date Deposited: |
01 Mar 2017 13:58 |
Journal or Publication Title: |
Journal of European Integration |
Publisher: |
Taylor & Francis (Routledge) |
Refereed: |
Yes |
URI: |
|
Use Licence: |
This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available
here |
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