THE PUBLICS OF EUROPE AND THE EUROPEAN PUBLIC SPHERE: DO THE EU POLICIES FOR CREATING A COMMON PUBLIC SPHERE HAVE DEMOCRATIC AND INCLUSIVE CONSEQUENCES FOR DIFFERENT DIVERSITY GROUPS?

Hakan G. Sicakkan (University of Bergen)

It has been the European Union’s clearly pronounced policy to entrench the notions of European identity and European citizenship on existing diversity within Europe. The aim was more than just celebrating diversity, but using it as a vehicle for unifying the European society. An important milestone here was to create a common European public sphere in which all European citizens could freely participate with the aim of shaping both the European public opinion and the EU-level policies. For this purpose, trans-European networks of non-state organizations of different types were encouraged and sponsored. Some of these trans-European networks were given an official status as dialogue partners in policymaking processes. This lecture will try to answer the question of whether these EU policies have had the same inclusive effect on different diversity groups, or whether some groups have been less privileged than others.

Hakan G. Sicakkan is Associate Professor at the Department of Comparative Politics, University of Bergen. His fields of interest include Citizenship; Public Sphere; Political Boundaries; Europeanization and Globalization; Politics of Diversity, Mobility, and Identity; Diversity Theory and Methodology. Sicakkan is the Scientific Director of the recently finalized EU-funded research project EUROSPHERE.

Friday 8 March, 14.15-16.00
Uni Rokkan Centre, Nygårdsgaten 5, 6th floor.

Poster

SEMINAR SERIES ON TRANS-EUROPEAN POWERS AND THE RE-STRUCTURING OF MAJORITY-MINORITY RELATIONS

Seminar organizer: Hakan G. Sicakkan