An audit of democracy in the European Union

Abstract

This eBook contains some of the first fruits of a large collaborative project funded by the EU’s DG Research under their FP7 Programme: an “infrastructure design study” whose ultimate goal is “Providing an Infrastructure for Research on Electoral Democracy in the European Union” – a title that gives rise to the unlovely acronym PIREDEU, used repeatedly in the pages of the book. The design study was complemented by a feasibility study conducted in the context of the 2009 elections to the European Parliament. While somewhat restricted in breadth of coverage (for example the numbers of questions asked in voter and candidate surveys were limited by available funds) this was still a fully-fledged election study that included all the component parts needed to address fundamental questions regarding the quality of democracy in the European Union at the time of elections to the European Parliament. It included five of these components. A voter study sought to interview about 1,000 respondents in each of the 27 EU member countries, using essentially the same questionnaire in all countries; A candidate study sought to interview all candidates with any viable chance of actually gaining a seat in the European Parliament; A media study content-analyzed newspapers, television channels and radio stations during a three-week period leading up to the elections; A manifesto study coded all the campaign platforms published by parties seeking representation in the European Parliament; A contextual data study sought to collect all relevant statistical information regarding the outcome of the election in each of the 27 participating countries. This book contains fifteen chapters showcasing the research opportunities provided by these data.