Citizens' Initiatives in Europe Procedures and Consequences of Agenda-Setting by Citizens

by Setälä, Maija; Schiller, Theo

• ISBN13: 9780230319691
• ISBN10: 0230319696
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-04-15
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

An exploration and analysis of the regulation and practices of citizens' initiatives in eleven European democracies and the EU. The contributors to this volume shed light on how citizens' initiatives influence patterns of political agenda-setting in representative democracies and how they can contribute to participatory democracy.

Author Biography

Maija Setl is Academy Research Fellow, Department of Political Science, University of Turku, Finland. She specializes in democratic theory, direct democracy and democratic innovation, arid has published several articles and books on these topics. Theo Schiller is Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Department of Political Science, Philipps University, Marburg, Germany. He previously worked as a political consultant, and his teaching, research and publications have focused on German, European and Canadian politics and theory and. comparative research of democratic systems, including direct democracy.

Table of Contents

"An important contribution to the comparative literature on direct democracy. The growing use of initiatives and the coming into effect of the new European Citizens' Initiative make this a particularly timely publication." - Lawrence LeDuc, Professor of Political Science, University of Toronto, Canada

"This is an impressive book. It covers an obvious need and is written by the best experts within the field. A major contribution to our understanding of democracy in Europe."- Palle Svensson, Professor, Aarhus University, Denmark 'An important contribution to the comparative literature on direct democracy. The growing use of initiatives and the coming into effect of the new European Citizens' Initiative make this a particularly timely publication.' - Lawrence LeDuc, Professor of Political Science, University of Toronto, Canada "This is an impressive book. It covers an obvious need and is written by the best experts within the field. A major contribution to our understanding of democracy in Europe."- Palle Svensson, Professor, Aarhus University, Denmark