Democratic Legitimacy and the European Union

This is an introduction to a Special Issue that first considers representative and deliberative conceptions of democratic legitimacy in the EU, and then presents empirical research on how the institutions of the EU are attempting to increase the democratic legitimacy of the multi‐level political system. The first three articles concern central democratic concepts and use political theory and institutional analysis. The second set of three articles turns to an empirical analysis of the institutions and institutional processes of the EU and the member states, including the European Commission and the media, the European Parliament and the Open Method of Coordination. It is concluded that both representative and deliberative mechanisms within each of the member states and the EU institutions need to be improved in order to increase the democratic legitimacy of the EU among the citizens.