6 Representation in polycrisis: Towards a new research agenda for EU citizens

Abstract

In the last 15 years, crises have been plentiful in the European Union (EU): the Great Recession, the Eurozone crisis, the ‘migration crisis’, the climate crisis, the Brexit crisis, the rule of law crisis, the Covid-19 crisis, and the Russian war on Ukraine just to name the most prominent ones. This chapter argues that this constant state of polycrisis is actually connected to an underlying crisis of political representation in the EU and its member states. This crisis manifests itself in dwindling linkages between parties and voters, changing lines of political conflict along a multidimensional polycleavage and a growing tension between responsibility and responsiveness. Following this argument, this chapter explores the questions of who represents whom, on what and how in the EU, both from a legal and political perspective. In doing so, it discusses conceptual and theoretical innovations to reframe political representation in the multilevel system of EU governance beyond the supranational - intergovernmental divide. It finds that the actual empirical practice of representation is much more multidimensional than expected and goes well beyond the artificial dichotomy of national vs. European interest representation. There is polyrepresentation in the polycrisis, in that we find patterns that cut across borders and institutional channels of representation. The chapter concludes by proposing three innovative avenues for future research on representation in an EU under strain. Scholars should investigate: (1) polyrepresentation as a multidimensional phenomenon, (2) justification and communication alongside representation, and (3) the demand side of political representation, i.e. what kind of representation citizens want.