Abstract
Democratic legitimacy of political orders and political decisions depends on the consent of the governed. This almost common-sensical proposition suggests that
legitimacy requires that people have beliefs about a political order that motivate them to support that order in some way, to accept obligations towards it and to act mainly according to its rules. These beliefs and attitudes should also correspond to public opinion and be articulated in public discourse.1
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Notes
B. Peters, ‘Public Discourse, Identity and the Problem of Democratic Legitimacy’, in E. O. Eriksen (ed.), Making the European Polity. Reflexive Integration in the EU (London: Routledge, 2005), p. 98.
M. Ferree, W. Gamson, J. Gerhards and D. Rucht, Shaping Abortion Discourse. Democracy and the Public Sphere in Germany and the United States (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), p. 11.
H. Wessler, Öffentlichkeit als Prozess [The Public Sphere in Procedural Perspective] (Opladen, Wiesbaden: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1999).
D. Hallin and P. Mancini, Comparing Media Systems. Three Models of Media and Politics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004).
Peters, ‘Public Discourse’; B. Peters, S. Sifft, A. Wimmel, M. Brüggemann and K. Kleinen-von Königslöw, ‘National and Transnational Public Spheres: the Case of the EU’, in S. Leibfried and M. Zürn (eds), Transformations of the State? (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2005), pp. 139–60.
B. Peters and H. Wessler, ‘Transnationale Öffentlichkeiten — analytische Dimensionen, normative Standards, sozialkulturelle Produktionsstrukturen [Transnational Public Spheres — Analytical Dimensions, Normative Standards, Socio-cultural Production Structures]’, in K. Imhof, R. Blum, H. Bonfadelli and O. Jarren (eds), Demokratie in der Mediengesellschaft [Democracy in a Mediadominated Society] (Wiesbaden: Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2006, forthcoming).
R. Koopmans and J. Erbe, ‘Towards a European Public Sphere? Vertical and Horizontal Dimensions of Europeanized Political Communication’, Innovation, 17(2) (2004) pp. 97–118.
J. Gerhards, ‘Missing a European Public Sphere’, in M. Kohli and M. Novak (eds). Will Europe Work? Integration, Employment and the Social Order (London/New York: Routledge, 2001), pp. 145–58.
For a similar argument, see F. Neidhardt, ‘Europäische Öffentlichkeit als Prozess. Anmerkungen zum Forschungsstand [A European Public Sphere in the Making. The Current State of Research]’, in W.R. Langenbucher and M. Latzer (eds). Europäische Öffentlichkeit und medialer Wandel: eine transdiszi-plinäre Perspektive [A European Public Sphere and the Evolution of Mass Media: Transdisciplinary Perspectives] (Wiesbaden: Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2006), pp. 46–61.
A. Moravcsik, ‘In Defence of the “Democratic Deficit”’, Journal of Common Market Studies, 40(4) (2002) pp. 603–24.
G. Majone, ‘Europe’s “Democratic Deficit”: the Question of Standards’, European Law Journal, 4(1) (1998) pp. 5–28.
See K. Eder and C. Kantner, ‘Transnationale Resonanzstrukturen in Europa. Eine Kritik der Rede vom Öffentlichkeitsdefizit [Transnational Resonance Structures in Europe. Criticizing the Thesis of the Public Sphere Deficit]’, in M. Bach (ed.). Die Europäisierung nationaler Gesellschaften [The Europeanization of National Societies] (Wiesbaden: Westdeutscher Verlag, 2000), p. 315.
J. Habermas, ‘Does Europe Need a Constitution? Response to Dieter Grimm’, in J. Habermas, The Inclusion of the Other. Studies in Political Theory (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1998), p. 160.
T. Risse, ‘Zur Debatte um die (Nicht-)Existenz einer europäischen Öffentlichkeit. Was wir wissen, und wie es zu interpretieren ist [The Debate about the (Non-) Existence of a European Public Sphere: What We Know and How to Interpret It]’, Berliner Debatte Initial, 13(5) (2002) pp. 15–23
S. Tobler, ‘Konfliktinduzierte Transnationalisierung nationaler und supranationaler Öffentlichkeitsarenen [The Conflict-induced Transnationalization of National and Supranational Public Arenas]’, in W. R. Langenbucher and M. Latzer (eds), Europäische Öffentlichkeit und medialer Wandel: eine transdisziplinäre Perspektive [A European Public Sphere and the Evolution of Mass Media: Transdisciplinary Perspectives] (Wiesbaden: Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2006), pp. 107–30.
H.-J. Trenz, ‘Korruption und politischer Skandal in der EU: Auf dem Weg zu einer politischen Öffentlichkeit? [Corruption and Political Scandal in the EU: On the Way to a Political Public Sphere?]’, in M. Bach (ed.), Die Europäisierung nationaler Gesellschaften [The Europeanization of National Societies] (Wiesbaden: Westdeutscher Verlag, 2000), pp. 332–59.
M. van de Steeg, ‘The Public Sphere in the European Union: A Media Analysis of Public Discourse on EU Enlargement and on the Haider Case’, doctoral thesis (Florence: European University Institute, 2005).
See A. Wimmel, ‘Transnationale Diskurse in der europäischen Medienöffentlichkeit [Transnational Discourses in Europe’s Mediated Public Sphere]’, Politische Vierteljahresschrift, 46(3) (2005) pp. 459–83
See, for example, P.G. Kielmannsegg, ‘Integration und Demokratie (mit Nachwort zur 2. Auflage) [Integration and Democracy (Including an Epilogue for the 2nd Edition)]’, in M. Jachtenfuchs and B. Kohler-Koch (eds), Europäische Integration [European Integration], 2nd edn (Opladen: Leske + Budrich, 2003), pp. 49–83.
All results will be published in B. Peters, H. Wessler, S. Sifft, M. Brüggemann and K. Kleinen-von Königslöw, The Transnationalization of Public Spheres (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007, forthcoming).
M. Zürn, ‘Democratic Governance beyond the Nation-State: the EU and Other International Institutions’, European Journal of International Relations, 6(2) (2000) p. 187.
See D. Held, A. McGrew, D. Goldblatt and J. Perraton, Global Transformations: Politics, Economics and Culture (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999)
M. Beisheim, S. Dreher, G. Walter, B. Zangl and M. Zürn, Im Zeitalter der Globalisierung? Thesen und Daten zur gesellschaftlichen und politischen Denationalisierung [In the Age of Globalization? Theses and Data on Societal and Political Denationalization] (Baden-Baden: Nomos, 1999)
O. Boyd-Barrett and T. Rantanen (eds). The Globalisation of News (London: Sage, 1998).
For each year we sampled all newspaper articles of two randomly selected Mondays, two Tuesdays, and so on. For an account of the effectiveness of this constructed week method, see D. A. Riffe, C. F. Lacy and R. Stephen, Analyzing Media Messages: Using Quantitative Content Analysis in Research (Mahwah: L. Erlbaum, 1998).
C. Eilders and K. Voltmer, ‘Zwischen Deutschland und Europa: eine empirische Untersuchung zum Grad von Europäisierung und Europā Unterstützung der meinungsführenden deutschen Tageszeitungen [Between Germany and Europe: an Empirical Investigation of the Degree of Europeanization and Support for Europe in the Leading German Press]’, Medien & Kommunikationswissenschaft, 51(2) (2003) pp. 250–70.
H. Sievert, Europäischer Journalismus: Theorie und Empirie aktueller Medienkommunikation in der Europäischen Union [European Journalism: Theory and Findings about Mediated Communication in the European Union] (Opladen/Wiesbaden: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1998).
See, for example, Kielmansegg, ‘Integration und Demokratie’; D. Grimm, ‘Does Europe Need a Constitution?’ European Law Journal, 1(3) (1995) pp. 282–302.
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© 2007 Hartmut Wessler, Michael Brüggemann, Katharina Kleinen-von Königslöw, Stefanie Sifft and Andreas Wimmel
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Wessler, H., Brüggemann, M., Königslöw, K.Kv., Sifft, S., Wimmel, A. (2007). The Quest for a European Public Sphere: News Media and Democratic Legitimacy. In: DeBardeleben, J., Hurrelmann, A. (eds) Democratic Dilemmas of Multilevel Governance. Transformations of the State. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230591783_6
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