Leiden University Student Repository

Meuleman, Lysette (2014)

Sortition and Deliberation in the EU: An Alternative for Electoral Democracy

Master thesis | International Relations (MA)

Democracy is under pressure in Europe. On national levels trust in politicians and the political system is decreasing, satisfaction is low and protests are increasing. People feel not heard by their chosen representatives and some start to experiment with other forms of democracy. This discontent is especially visible in relation to the European Union that is accused to have severe democratic deficits. This started a debate on the current electoral representative system. This thesis investigates if the democratic deficit of the EU can be solved by introducing citizens’ bodies based on sortition, the random selection of citizens instead of electing representatives.

Democratic Deficit

European Union

Sortition

Deliberation

Citizen Participation

Author

Meuleman, Lysette

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Supervisors

Richard, A.I.

ECTS Credits

20

Language

en