Subnational mobilisation in the European union

Abstract

The turbulent ratification of the Treaty of European Union has given a new sharpness to old debates about democratic representativeness in the European arena. The crisis of representation after Maastricht was, however, limited in terms of who and what was criticised: Maastricht was a crisis of intergovernmentalism. There are several alternative ways for establishing links between the citizen and Europe. This paper focuses on the role of subnational intermediaries in day‐today policy making. The first part of the paper places subnational mobilisation in a broader understanding of the Euro‐polity. Three competing conceptualisations: a state‐centric model, a supranational model, and multi‐level governance make distinct predictions about the features, opportunities and constraints for subnational mobilisation. Next, the contemporary variety of subnational mobilisation is compared with each model. The final section points at some implications for representative democracy in the Euro‐polity.