Espen D. H. Olsen

The origins of European citizenship in the first two decades of European integration

By tracing conceptions of citizenship in the early period of European integration until 1971, this article argues that the Maastricht Treaty was not year zero in the EU citizenship discourse. In contrast to previous research, this article contributes theoretically by studying citizenship as a status of individuals in relation to a political unit, differentiated analytically into membership, identity, rights and participation, and subsequently focuses on the interplay between them. Further, it contributes empirically by highlighting those treaties, judicial decisions, policies and practices that affected the status of individuals. The analysis finds that citizenship elements in early European integration created a frame upon which later conceptions of citizenship developed, including Union citizenship. It must, however, not be overstated as anything resembling a status akin to national citizenship. European citizenship should rather be understood as a status emerging from concrete judicial, legislative and political practices.

From Citizens' Deliberation to Popular Will Formation? Generating Democratic Legitimacy in Transnational Deliberative Polling

In this article, we critically discuss the democratic legitimacy of deliberative experiments taking place in a transnational setting. We argue that while deliberative polls through scientific design may enhance equal participation and informed opinion making of selected citizens, their representative status as part of a broader constituency and as a generator of democratic legitimacy is less clear-cut. To illustrate our argument, we analyse the results and organisation of Europolis, a transnational deliberative experiment. This is an ideal case for analysing the linkage between scientific validity of deliberative experiments and democratic legitimacy because it introduces variation in terms of constituency and group plurality. By critically scrutinising this deliberative event, we provide a first take on specifying scope conditions for deliberation, with direct reference to the lessons from the experiment, reflection on methodological problems and, finally, an attempt to discern ways to move from deliberation to will formation in the EU setting.

European Citizenship: Mixing Nation State and Federal Features with a Cosmopolitan Twist

Abstract European citizenship poses a challenge to the paradigmatic understanding of citizenship as congruence between nation, state, and membership rights. Contrary to previous research which has focused on single elements or normative ideas, this paper addresses this challenge by comparing ideal typical models of the EU polity. Is EU citizenship more nation-based, federal, or cosmopolitan? Utilized heuristically, the models account for different features of European citizenship practice, and the relative weighting between them. Based on this conceptual analysis, the main argument is that despite important developments towards granting rights based on ‘personhood’ and not ‘nationhood’, European citizenship is also marked by the interface between nation state and federal arrangements in EU politics. The degree of ‘incongruence’ in European citizenship is therefore dependent on the mixed nature of EU politics, rather than the effect of post-national projects that address the ‘liberation’ of citizenship from nationality.

Eurocrisis and EU Citizenship

Three weeks before the deadline of this chapter was due, I was out on one of my long bike rides: this time from Oslo to my old hometown. I took small roads and ventured into the unknown of the Norwegian countryside. It was quite hot for April and I was out of water. The hills were rolling and becoming steeper. Then, in the middle of the forest I see a guy sitting outside an old small peasant house, typical of nineteenth-century Norway: one-storied house, built on unstable rock foundations. I stop and ask the guy if I can get some water. He replies, ‘Sorry, I don’t understand Norwegian.’ I ask in English and he goes inside to fill my water bottle. Once outside again I ask where he is from. The answer: ‘Greece.’ I ask what he is doing out there in the middle of nowhere on the countryside. He says, ‘I just arrived and start to work next week. I just rent this house for now: it has no electricity, just solar panels, and no proper piping. My wife and two children arrive in two weeks and then we need to find a better place to live.’ Here was a Greek man, in his forties, living in a ramshackle house in the woods in the middle of nowhere, in Norway! If that isn’t resilience in times of crisis, what is?

Transnational European Citizenship: Tracing Conceptions of Citizenship in the European Integration Process

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The micro–macro link in deliberative polling: science or politics?

In this article, we critically examine the question of how to link the ‘micro’ of deliberative mini-publics with the ‘macro’ of the democratic system. To explore this puzzle, we relate to EuroPolis, a transnational deliberative experiment that took place one week ahead of the 2009 European Parliamentary elections. The main argument is that although the scientific design of deliberative polls is a necessary condition for the fulfilment of the criteria for equal participation and informed opinion-making of selected citizens (the micro-dimension), this does not necessarily translate into a democratically representative and legitimate proxy for the broader political constituency (the macro-dimension). This problem is potentially exacerbated in deliberative settings that cut across domestic political cultures and nationalized public spheres.

Confronting European Diversity: Deliberation in a Transnational and Pluri-Lingual Setting

Abstract In this article, we confront some commonly held assumptions and objections with regard to the feasibility of deliberation in a transnational and pluri-lingual setting. To illustrate our argument, we rely on an analysis of group discussions from EuroPolis, a transnational deliberative experiment that took place one week ahead of the 2009 European Parliamentary elections. The European deliberative poll is an ideal case for testing the viability of deliberative democracy across political cultures because it introduces variation in terms of constituency and group plurality under the controlled conditions of quasi-experimental scientific setting. For measuring group dynamics and interactions we apply a modified version of the Discourse Quality Index (DQI) that is combined with a qualitative content analysis of selected sequences of discussions. Findings show that participants of transnational deliberative polling 1) generally recognise the EU polity as a reference point for exercising communicative power and impact on decision-making, and 2) are in fact able to interact and debate across languages and cultures, developing a self-awareness of citizens of a shared polity and thereby turning a heterogeneous group of randomly selected citizens into a constituency of democracy.