ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the particularities and difficulties of the European Union's (EU) democratization, and argues that the way forward is to construct a set of democratic practices based on deliberative democracy and active citizenship, cemented in and reflected by institutional reform. Democratization of the EU is a very complex and unusual process. he novel nature of the EU—its location at an uncertain and fluctuating point on a spectrum between classic international organization and supranational federation—means that it has numerous particularities. Communitarians often argue that EU democracy is a contradiction in terms, given that it depends on the existence of demos, which can be found at national but not ‘European’ level. Further assets of deliberative democracy in the EU context are its adaptability, ability to generate a culture of voluntary compliance, and correspondence with the EU culture of informal politics and inter-institutional dialogue.
