Unelected Representatives in the Europolitical Field: CSOs between Berlin and Brussels

Abstract

If it is true that the voice of Europe’s citizenry is raised by civil society organizations (CSOs), then those actors who become active on European policy issues are representatives of European citizens.¹ But they are unelected actors — the mechanisms through which CSOs can become representatives are not based on voting. When assuming that CSO are representatives, most of the underlying assumptions of democratic political theory need to be revised (cf. Saward 2006 and the Introduction to this volume by Kröger and Friedrich). It is, for example, largely taken for granted in democratic theories that political representation is constructed bottom-up by citizens who articulate their political will. My understanding is that representation also emerges from the intermediary position. Representatives of CSOs depend on recognition by policy-makers from ‘above’ and by supporters from ‘below’. They have to create and stage performances as representatives to gain acceptance.