The Making of a European Public Sphere: Media Discourse and Political Contention

by Edited by Ruud Koopmans , Paul Statham

• ISBN13: 9780521138253
• ISBN10: 0521138256
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-07-29
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This book investigates an important source of the European Union's recent legitimacy problems. It shows how European integration is debated in mass media, and how this affects democratic inclusiveness. Advancing integration implies a shift in power between governments, parliaments, and civil society. Behind debates over Europe's "democratic deficit" is a deeper concern: whether democratic politics can perform effectively under conditions of Europeanization and globalization. This study is based on a wealth of unique data from seven European countries, combining newspaper content analyses, an innovative study of Internet communication structures, and hundreds of interviews with leading political and media representatives across Europe. It is by far the most far-reaching and empirically grounded study on the Europeanization of media discourse and political contention to date, and a must-read for anyone interested in how European integration changes democratic politics and why European integration has become increasingly contested.

Table of Contents

Table	p. ix
Figures	p. xiii
Contributors	p. xv
Acknowledgments	p. xvii
Introduction: Europe's Search for a Public	p. 1
A European Public Sphere: Questions and Approach
The European Union and the Public Sphere: Conceptual Issues, Political Tensions, Moral Concerns, and Empirical Questions	p. 13
Theoretical Framework, Research Design, and Methods	p. 34
European Public Debates: Visibility and Inclusiveness
The Europeanization of Public Spheres: Comparisons across Issues, Time, and Countries	p. 63
Winners and Losers, Supporters and Opponents in Europeanized Public Debates	p. 97
Mass Media: Performance, Claim Making, and Framing
Making Europe News: Journalism and Media Performance	p. 125
The Media's Voice over Europe: Issue Salience, Openness, and Conflict Lines in Editorials	p. 151
Transnational Political Communication on the Internet: Search Engine Results and Hyperlink Networks	p. 171
Framing the European Union in National Public Spheres	p. 195
Political Actors: Collective Action and Party Competition
Going Public in the European Union: Action Repertoires of Collective Political Actors	p. 223
Political Party Contestation: Emerging Euroscepticism or a Normalization of Eurocriticism?	p. 245
Conclusion
What Kind of Europeanized Public Politics?	p. 277
References	p. 307
Index	p. 327
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