Framing Civic Engagement, Political Participation and Active Citizenship in Europe
This book evaluates the role that civic engagement, political participation and active citizenship can play in promoting the establishment of a European polity. The chapters included here examine how the practice of active citizenship is managed and constructed in the context of a European drive to increase civic engagement and political participation in three member states (Portugal, Italy and the UK) and one accession country (Turkey). Looking at both processes and policies promoting active citizenship at the European and national levels, this book uncovers current discourses as well as political priorities and values that surround the activities of non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Of particular interest are debates about the nature and level of civic and political participation and engagement of marginal groups (women, youths, migrants and minorities) as they are particularly vulnerable to social exclusion. The book focuses on the interaction between institutions and civil society actors, addressing a number of questions related to their reciprocal role in influencing, shaping, criticizing or disregarding certain political priorities.
This book was previously published as a special issue of the Journal of Civil Society.
Cristiano Bee is a Marie Curie Fellow at the European Institute-Jean Monnet Center of Excellence of Istanbul Bilgi University, Turkey, and visiting researcher at the School of Social Sciences of the University of Surrey, UK, where he holds the Jean Monnet Module Current trends in European Integration Studies: Beyond the Eurocrisis. His research focuses on the analysis of institutional communication models, active citizenship practices and public sphere development.
Roberta Guerrina is a Reader in Politics at the University of Surrey, UK. She is a European policy analyst with a particular interest in European social policy, citizenship policy and gender equality. She has published in the area of womens human rights, work-life balance, identity politics and the idea of Europe. She is author of Mothering the Union (Manchester University Press, 2005) and Europe: History, Ideas and Ideologies (Arnold, 2002).
First published 2015
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Contents
Cristiano Bee & Roberta Guerrina
Martyn Barrett & Ian Brunton-Smith
Cristiano Bee & Roberta Guerrina
Norberto Ribeiro, Carla Malafaia, Maria Fernandes-Jesus, Tiago Neves & Isabel Menezes
Tulin Sener
Paola Villano & Alberto Bertocchi
Cristiano Bee & Dimitra Pachi
The chapters in this book were originally published in the Journal of Civil Society , volume 10, issue 1 (April 2014). When citing this material, please use the original page numbering for each article, as follows:
Chapter 1
- Introduction: Framing Civic Engagement, Political Participation and Active Citizenship in Europe
- Cristiano Bee & Roberta Guerrina
- Journal of Civil Society , volume 10, issue 1 (April 2014) pp. 14
Chapter 2
- Political and Civic Engagement and Participation: Towards an Integrative Perspective
- Martyn Barrett & Ian Brunton-Smith
- Journal of Civil Society , volume 10, issue 1 (April 2014) pp. 528
Chapter 3
- Participation, Dialogue, and Civic Engagement: Understanding the Role of Organized Civil Society in Promoting Active Citizenship in the European Union
- Cristiano Bee & Roberta Guerrina
- Journal of Civil Society , volume 10, issue 1 (April 2014) pp. 2950
Chapter 4
- Europe as a Beacon of Democracy? Citizenship Policies Relating to Youth and Migrants in Portugal
- Norberto Ribeiro, Carla Malafaia, Maria Fernandes-Jesus, Tiago Neves & Isabel Menezes
- Journal of Civil Society , volume 10, issue 1 (April 2014) pp. 5168
Chapter 5
- Civic and Political Participation of Women and Youth in Turkey: An Examination of Perspectives of Public Authorities and NGOs
- Tulin Sener
- Journal of Civil Society , volume 10, issue 1 (April 2014) pp. 6981
Chapter 6
- On Active Citizenship: Discourses and Language about Youth and Migrants in Italy
- Paola Villano & Alberto Bertocchi
- Journal of Civil Society , volume 10, issue 1 (April 2014) pp. 8299
Chapter 7
- Active Citizenship in the UK: Assessing Institutional Political Strategies and Mechanisms of Civic Engagement
- Cristiano Bee & Dimitra Pachi
- Journal of Civil Society , volume 10, issue 1 (April 2014) pp. 100117
Please direct any queries you may have about the citations to
CRISTIANO BEE & ROBERTA GUERRINA
School of Politics, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK
This special issue evaluates the role that civic engagement, political participation, and active citizenship can play in promoting the establishment of a European polity. The articles included here examine how the practice of active citizenship is managed and constructed in the context of a European drive to increase civic engagement and political participation in three member states (Portugal, Italy, and the UK) and one accession country (Turkey). Looking at both processes and policies promoting active citizenship at the European and national levels, this special issue uncovers current discourses as well as political priorities and values that surround the activities of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Of particular interest are debates about the nature and level of civic and political participation and engagement of marginal groups (women, youths, migrants, and minorities) as they are particularly vulnerable to social exclusion.
The literature on civic and political participation and engagement focuses on the failure of traditional policy approaches to engender higher levels of ownership and participation within the European polity. This trend is more acute in relation to marginal groups. Both Fraser (1992) and Laclau and Mouffe (1985) have called for a re-valuation of the relationship between public and private spheres in order to understand the mechanisms and nature of civic and political participation and the role that discourse plays in establishing dominant notions of political concepts. From this perspective, traditional conceptualizations of the public sphere have served to frame our understandings of ownership and participation. This theoretical framework informs the way our special issue looks at the role of political discourse in shaping policy outcomes and associated responses. The articles included here compare institutional and civil society approaches to active citizenship in order to make sense of convergence, fragmentation, and hierarchies of power in the construction of political identities amongst traditionally marginal groups.