The challenge of democratic representation in the European Union

What does political representation in the European Union look like? Which actors claim to act as representatives of which constituency? What role does the EU play in (re)shaping political representation? This volume addresses these questions, adding to the emerging debate on political representation and democracy in the EU, and includes original conceptual and empirical chapters by emerging and leading scholars in the field. It clarifies the roles of different political actors such as parliaments, civil society organizations and subnational authorities. It explores representative claims made by these actors in different contexts, be it the digital public sphere or parliaments, and elucidates the impact of the EU on the institutions and practices of political representation. The volume argues that the transformation of representation in the EU is characterized by processes of diversification, albeit with an uncertain ability to re-configure the link between representation and democracy.