ABSTRACT
This chapter aims at lining out the crucial conceptual and normative-theoretical questions and dimensions of the puzzle of the gap in more detail, to then develop the research heuristics. It discusses, first, why the gap is an issue at all. Second, after a short recap of integration history, two approaches to the gap will be presented. The first one analyses the gap as a functional problem for European integration, and the second one as a normative-theoretical problem and lack of a demos. On this basis, the conceptual reflections underlying the research heuristics are explicated. The last section argues in favour of a dynamic rather than binary model of democracy in the European Union (EU). The conceptual framework developed in this chapter is the normative and conceptual basis of the research heuristics and the research design. It was intertwined and developed further within the analysis.
