The issue of democratic deficit and crisis of legitimacy has been at the forefront of the development of the European project in the last twenty years. However, little attention has been directed towards analysing the way in which democratic legitimacy underlines the construction of the EU s foreign policy. This thesis draws on a broad understanding of democratic legitimacy which is seen to encompass various aspects: transparency, accountability, responsiveness and openness to public debate. It shows that the media had a positive effect (although in contrasting degrees) on the democratic legitimacy of the EU s foreign policy in two issue areas, highlighting the ways in which it achieved this. Drawing on insights from political theory, it argues that the European public sphere has the potential to foster the four characteristics highlighted above through the ability of the media to politicise foreign policy issues, which are commonly closed off from democratic scrutiny. Three types of interaction effects between the media and policymakers within the European public sphere are identified: indexing, bounding and agenda setting. Firstly, indexing captures the ability of policymakers to influence and shape media discourse in order to aid their interests and goals by communicating in a favourable manner their policies to the general public. Secondly, through bounding the media can have a constraining or limiting effect on the range of policies and their effectiveness that policymakers can pursue, even if the latter are not aware of or willing to engage with the frames constructed by journalists. Finally, agenda setting captures the ability of the media to purposively influence decision-making processes through its discourse. Empirically two distinct areas of EU foreign policy are explored: the EU s approach to global climate change and its policy towards Russia. Hence, the study makes a significant contribution to the understanding of EU foreign policy and to its international actorness. Secondly, it extends in a comprehensive manner the debate regarding the crisis of legitimacy and democratic deficit in the EU to the realm of foreign policy. Finally, it also contributes to the literature on Foreign Policy Analysis which engages with the issue of democratic legitimacy.

The negotiations of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) triggered an unprecedented level of protests in the European Union (EU) in several member states. However, it was unclear whether the contestation of TTIP led to the Europeanisation of the national public spheres (Risse, 2010), given the general national fragmentation of the political debate in Europe (Koopmans and Statham, 2010a). This thesis analyses the debate and politicisation of TTIP in the Spanish, French and British media, and aims to answer two research questions. First, how and to what extent were national media discourses about TTIP Europeanised? Second, how does this type of Europeanisation of public spheres contribute to the democratic legitimacy of the EU? In order to answer the two research questions, an interdisciplinary theoretical framework has been put forward. Departing from the literature on the European public sphere (Koopmans & Erbe, 2004; Fossum & Schlesinger, 2007; Eriksen, 2005; Trenz, 2009) and the importance of analysing the Europeanisation of public spheres at the national level (Risse, 2010), the thesis argues that the literature often overlooks the role of conflict in the understanding of the public sphere. The gap in the literature has been addressed through a hybrid conceptualisation of the public sphere, combining a typically Habermasian deliberative approach with Chantal Mouffe’s ‘agonistics’. Empirically, the thesis undertakes a framing analysis of two different data sets through both qualitative and quantitative methods. The first data set is composed of press releases of a diverse group of EU-level political actors, in order to see what is the preferred framing of TTIP by different actors. The second is composed of the written articles dedicated to the TTIP negotiations in nine national news outlets (three from each selected country) in France, Spain and the UK, from the public announcement of the negotiations (February 2013) until the negotiations were officially frozen (November 2016). The actors’ discourse has been developed as a frame-mapping exercise undertaken inductively, identifying how different actors made sense of TTIP and put forward a number of competing frames. The findings of the empirical analysis of actors’ press releases indicate the attempt to strategically politicise or depoliticise the discussions around the TTIP negotiations, framed through different values by the different actors. These frames have been situated in categories, depending on whether they depoliticise TTIP, they challenge it in an agonistic or antagonistic way, or they focus on the negotiations as a process. The framing analysis of the media content on TTIP in the Spanish, French and British public spheres has revealed two separate chronological periods in the TTIP debate based on the presence of frames, measured through a framing ratio. The first period represents the traditional ‘permissive consensus’, while the second illustrates the agonistic politicisation of TTIP. Each national public sphere developed its own dynamics, which shows the importance that the national context has when discussing TTIP and Europe (Diez Medrano, 2003). However, while the Spanish, French and British public spheres have slightly different chronologies in their transitions from the first to the second period, there is a transnational coherence in terms of the frames of reference across the three countries. The findings of the media content analysis, particularly during the second period of the TTIP debate in the three countries, support the argument that there has been a Europeanisation of national public spheres that has happened in combination with a value-based and agonistic (Mouffe, 2013) politicisation. Rather than opposing the EU as a polity, the agonistic politicisation that has taken place in the case of TTIP has legitimised the EU by opening a space for the contestation of the negotiations, while accepting the EU as a political arena. The thesis argues that this agonistic Europeanisation of the national public spheres can lead towards an ‘empowering dissensus’ for European integration. The combination of agonistic politicisation and Europeanisation of public spheres is a process that matches ‘policy with politics’ at the EU level and normalises the EU as a polity by channeling conflict as politics in the Union rather than politics of the Union. / Doctorat en Information et communication / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The last 15 years has exemplified severe deficiencies in the institutional design of the European Union (EU). The EU suffers from a democratic deficit, which is demonstrated in the neglect if citizens preferences and their influence on decision making processes. This democratic deficit impacts not only the authority and legitimacy of the union but raises concerns between the EU and the world. The democratic deficit remains because of the lack of a European public sphere (EPS), an element which Habermas argues is necessary for democracy development. While previous research has found evidence for its existence in social networks and masss-media, this study broadens the field and investigates the potential existence if an EPS in a physical political network, namely the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC). By conducting a quantitative content analysis, the study reveals clear indications of an EPS within the committee in which it is highly engaged in. Their engagement in the sphere is crucial to increase influence and power, as their engagement can decrease the democratic deficit, increase the legitimacy of the EU, and favour smooth cooperation between the member states, and between the EU and the world.

The diploma thesis "Framing of euroscepticism in the Czech daily press" deals with political communication about the European Union realized in the czech daily press (namely MF DNES, Právo and Hospodářské noviny) during three events which were essential fot the Czech republic. It was referendum (2003), signing of Lisbon Treaty (2009) and signing of ESM (2013). It focuses on quality and europeanisation of public debate and its changes within this events. It also investigates how eurosceptic actors and and oponions are represented. It is trying to examine what are their possibilities of participating in public debate and identify attitudes of individual tituls. Research methods are quantitative analysis plus frame analysis. It also treats (in theoretical part) concepts like political communication (generally and on the european level), european public sphere and also euroscepticism itself.

Den offentliga sfären är ett begrepp som genom historien har definierats på en rad olika sätt. Detta har medfört att litteraturen om den europeiska offentliga sfären (EPS) har antagit en rad olika utgångspunkter. Vilket tidigare studier visar på finns det inom litteraturen på detta område ett antal brister i så väl operationaliseringar som konceptualiseringar. Denna kandidatexamen syftar till att, genom en litteraturstudie, utforska dessa olika konceptualiseringar kring EPS och även till att utreda huruvida forskningsfältet har förbättrats inom de olika områdena.   Vårat resultat visar på att många metodologiska och konceptuella problem återstår inom forskningen om EPS och även att det finns en generell avsaknad av diskussion och kritik mot forskningens egna tillvägagångssätt. Vi vill också hävda att det Habermasiska perspektivet, och även forskning med fokus på massmedia och ett empiriskt perspektiv, är allt för dominerande. / The public sphere is a term which historically has been defined in various ways. This has caused the literature on the European public sphere (EPS) to take on many different viewpoints. As shown by previous studies, the literature on this subject has several flaws as well in its operationalization’s as in its conceptualization’s. This bachelor’s thesis sets out to, through a literature review, explore the different conceptualizations of the EPS as well as review whether the field of research has improved in the various areas.   Our findings conclude that many methodological and conceptual issues remain in EPS research and there also seems to be a general lack of discussion and critique against the research’s own approaches. We would also argue that the Habermasian perspective, as well as research with a focus on mass media and an empirical perspective, is too dominant.

Nous choisissons d’aborder la question de la construction de l’espace public européen à partir de son espace médiatique afin d’enrichir le champ de la recherche sur l’information en continu et ce en écho aux précédents travaux portant principalement sur les acteurs et les logiques de production de ce type d’information. D’autant plus que la recherche sur le rôle des médias dans la construction d’un espace public européen s’est très souvent cantonnée aux frontières nationales des Etats membres, négligeant la dimension de communication transnationale, à savoir celle véhiculée par les médias transnationaux. Ceux-là même qui sont le maillon entre les sphères publiques segmentées par Etat membre. A l’ère des multiples mutations qui redessinent l’image de l’Europe du XXIe siècle, convoquer le concept d’espace public dans nos sociétés modernes nous amène à nous interroger à la fois sur le rôle individuel du citoyen dans la construction d’un espace public européen et aussi de la position d’un média transnational dans l’enrichissement ou l’affaiblissement de l’espace public européen. Nous choisissons pour cela d’étudier les aspects liés à la réception télévisuelle d’Euronews, chaîne d’information transnationale à perspective européenne, à partir de l’expression du citoyen/téléspectateur dans l’espace public. Un sujet qui revient se positionner au-devant de la scène de la recherche académique et scientifique en Sciences de l’information et de la communication à l’échelle européenne et internationale et s’inscrit dans la continuité des recherches sur l’espace public. / In the era of profound geopolitical, cultural and social changes that actually redraw the image of Europe, the close concerning of public space’s concept in modern societies lead us to question both the individual role of the citizen in building a European public sphere, and also the position of a transnational media in the enrichment or weakening of the European public sphere.In this context, and in order to validate or controversy this statement, we choose to study the reception of Euronews, a transnational information channel with a european perspective which is based on citizen’s / viewer’s expression in the public sphere. This specific research comes to position itself in front of the scene of academic and scientific researches in Information and Communication studies.

Dissertation focuses on qualitative aspects of EU communication strategies applied in two new EU member states, young democracies – Lithuania and Estonia. The overall goal of the research was twofold: to gain a better understanding about the reasons that determine implementation of EU Communication Policy in different national contexts as well as to propose possible solutions how to reshape and adapt it to specific cultures and conditions. Dissertation deals with the normative approach, that EU communication can provide a basis for the formation of the European public sphere and can help to bridge the ‘gap‘ between EU institutions and citizens on the national level. Generally, this comparative study performed in two Baltic countries has shown that while analysing European political communication, it is crucially important to examine strategic-organisational, as well as contextual factors (socio-cultural, political, economic conditions, local particularities of histories and traditions of communication) and values of those communicating (institutional communication officers and journalists) that influence their relationship (political communication culture) and have an impact on messages produced. / Disertacijoje analizuojama, kaip vyksta politikos komunikacijos sistemų europeizacijos procesai naujosiose narėse, jaunos demokratijos valstybėse (Lietuvoje ir Estijoje), apie kurių kontekstą ir patirtis Europos moksliniame diskurse pernelyg mažai yra žinoma. Mokslinė problema formuluojama tokiu klausimu: kokiu būdu ir kokiomis priemonėmis galima būtų užtikrinti efektyvią politikos komunikaciją tarp ES lygmens bei nacionalinių institucijų ir piliečių, ir taip pasiūlyti efektyvių sprendimų, kaip institucinė ES komunikacijos politika, pritaikyta prie skirtingų ES šalių narių ar jų grupių (tokių kaip Baltijos šalys) kontekstų, galėtų padėti spręsti ES demokratijos stygiaus problemą bei paspartinti bendros politinės viešosios erdvės formavimąsi Europoje? Darbe siekta parodyti, kad veiksniai, lemiantys Europos viešosios erdvės formavimąsi, yra daugialypiai bei kompleksiški. Remiantis Lietuvos ir Estijos atvejo analize galima daryti prielaidą, kad ES komunikacijos politikos įgyvendinimą nacionaliniu lygmeniu ir viešosios erdvės europeizacijos galimybes „iš viršaus“ apsprendžia bent trys skirtingos grupės veiksnių: strateginiai-organizaciniai, politikos komunikacijos kultūros (politikos-žiniasklaidos santykio) ir sociokultūriniai (priklausomybė nuo politinio, ekonominio, socialinio ir kt. konteksto).

There is a lively academic debate concerning US foreign policy in the post-Cold War era and especially after the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. Neoconservatism has become a cause celebre in the literature of international relations with a variety of scholars disagreeing as to its supposed impact on Washington's world affairs approach and the Bush administration's decision to remove Saddam Hussein, from power manu militari. This thesis is an analysis of the way this political ideology was interpreted in the European elite media. It will be demonstrated how a significant section of key opinion-forming newspapers of Britain, France, Germany and Italy framed neoconservatism during the administration of Bill Clinton and partly that of George W. Bush. There will be an exploration of whether and how newspapers vary in their coverage. The thesis will outline that the influence of the neoconservatives in US foreign policy can be disputed and will suggest that their ideas can be hardly considered as revolutionary ones. It will then focus on the media coverage and will show that the prominence devoted to neoconservatism by the accessed print sources is a relatively recent phenomenon. The findings indicate that the newspapers differed in their representation of the political ideology only in the period before 9/11 when they mainly discussed it in the context of domestic affairs. By contrast, after the terrorist atrocities and especially since 2003 they linked neoconservatism to US foreign policy and largely focused on it - as opposed to competing international relations theories -, representing it in a remarkably similar way. With the exception of The Times, which followed a comparatively balanced approach, they constructed it as a driving force behind George W. Bush's international politics approach and the war on Iraq. The media emphasis on neoconservatism will be attributed to different factors - such the scapegoat theory - which maybe influenced the journalistic work. The general consensus as to their understanding of neoconservatism and its supposed impact will not support the claim of a European public sphere but will be considered as a positive step towards its possible creation.

This diploma thesis deals with the impact of the recent immigration crisis in Europe on Europeanization of national public spheres and its implications for the democratic deficit of the European Union (EU). The main aim of this work was to determine, whether there is a tendency towards Europeanization of public spheres in two selected EU member states (Austria and Germany), and if it is the case, closely examine the forms and specific characteristics of this process. Besides the Europeanization of public sphere, a Europeanization of collective national identity was studied, as it is considered to be an essential part of Europeanized national public spheres. In order to provide answers for these questions, a qualitative content analysis was used for this research, analyzing opinion articles from two selected quality newspapers from each studied country. Newspapers with different political affiliation were chosen in order to get the most representative sample for the analysis. This research covered the debate on migration crisis within period of one year (May 2015 to April 2016). A general trend of Europeanization was recorded in both national public spheres within this debate.

In a setting of rising global challenges, transnational issues, and a deadlocked debate on European integration in the aftermath of the British Brexit referendum, this thesis presents the pan-European political movement and party as a novel approach of a cosmopolitan European generation taking their fate in their own hands. Consequently, the study investigates the characteristics of the ideological foundations of the emergence, vision, and strategy of the pan-European political movement Volt Europa.In a qualitative single case study using semi-structured interviews and participant observation at its core, the thesis aims to present a pan-European political movement to fellow scholars. The occurring questions are what visions this new movement has for the future of the EU and how it intends to contribute to achieving these visions. Framed by a literature review on related aspects of European constitutional law, the paper uses Habermas’ Discourse Theory and its Cosmopolitan features to solve the puzzle. Thereby, taken-for-granted theoretical frameworks based on the interaction of nation-states are challenged, and an omen of a single European demos is discovered.The study finds that Volt Europa suggests policies already presented by scholars but have yet to be implemented by politicians. Moreover, it considers that Volt Europa contributes to European Public Sphere as a movement but is spread over only some of the EU proportionally. Accordingly, theory and empirics suggest significant importance to a European Public Sphere. In this, Volt acts as a political party influencing legislation and transnational NGOs influencing the public debate and raising global awareness.