| Abstract: | 本研究以「公民被代表性」作為分析歐盟民主之概念工具﹐企圖打破以「民主政治容器」之橫向概念為焦點之研究途徑﹐而回歸以「民主政治對象」為分析焦點之縱向概念來探索歐盟之民主代表問題。多數學者認同歐洲整合導致相對直接的民主代表機制受到負面衝擊﹐然部份學者堅稱唯有有此「捨」才有超國家問題解決能力的「得」。本計劃首次明確以巴瑞多曲線呈現此一取捨關係﹐利用被代表性的概念衡量該所謂取捨關係的實虛。無論公共政策是在哪一層次被制定—歐盟､會員國､兩者皆是—民主政治以及公民利益被代表的情況依舊能有一個受評估的憑藉﹐因為此一研究設計不問「歐盟這個政治實體是否民主﹖」而是問「人民是否被妥善代表﹔其利益偏好是否被反映於決策中﹖」「公民被代表性」為一首創之分析概念工具﹐為釐清民主政治中民主代表､責任､合法性､平等､公議…等民主政治要素之間的關係﹐本計劃多方面擷取政治理論既存論述﹐檢視Dahl, Mill, Rawls, Rousseau, Held, Sartori, Przeworski, Stokes, Manin, Madison, Pitkin, Shapiro, Riker, Cohen等學者所提出之民主代表理論﹐對照其與歐盟實際情況之反差或相似處﹐整理出歐盟作為民主政治容器的可行與不可行處﹐進而審視以公民被代表性來檢驗歐盟公民民主權益的可行性。
This research project proposes to use “citizen representedness” as a conceptual tool to analyze democracy in the EU. Unlike existing horizontal analytical approaches which take the “container of democratic politics”—be it the EU or the Member State—as the focal point of studies, the proposed research takes a vertical approach and focuses on the “subject of democratic politics,” i.e., the citizens, in exploring democratic representation in the EU. Most would agree that the mechanisms of representative democracy have been negatively affected by European integration due to the supranational features of some aspects of the Union. Some insists, however, that this loss is not only worthwhile but also necessary, for there is a tradeoff between relatively direct democratic representation and the Union’s problem-solving capacity. This research projects this tradeoff relationship with a Pareto front line and uses the concept of representedness to examine the conventional wisdom that the losses in citizen representation has been transformed into gains in European problem-solving capacity. This research is not aimed at finding out whether the EU as a political entity is democratic but whether the interests and preferences of the European citizens have been reflected in public policies made collectively by member state governments and the Union. Since the concept of representedness is entirely new, the proposed research will test the feasibility of developing such a conceptual tool by tapping into the existing works on democracy, legitimacy, accountability, and representation by Dahl, Mill, Rawls, Rousseau, Held, Sartori, Przeworski, Stokes, Manin, Madison, Pitkin, Shapiro, Riker, and Cohen. Drawing from these scholars, the research will refine the concept of representedness and tease out elements incompatible with democratic theories. |
