ABSTRACT
The European Union (EU) constitutes one, and arguably the most developed, example of a new form of international governance. The European Parliament (EP) is a part of a federalist political system, the EU. EU itself is built on, and draws its legitimacy from, the citizens and national political elites of its member states. When thumbing through literature on democracy and political participation in nation-states, it is obvious that one of the main concerns is the distance between the decision-making system and the average citizens. The chapter introduces the state of scholarly research on the Parliament’s party groups. The literature review shows that the existing works are primarily historical and descriptive: little empirical research has so far been done on the internal organisation of the EP, its party groups, and the members of the Parliament. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
