The aim of this Research Network is to bring together scholars in the fields of transnational politics, representation, and democracy in Europe. We aim to expand and critically discuss both empirical and theoretical work on the nature and development of Europe’s transnational political space, and its implications for representation and democracy at both the national and supranational level.

Research on these topics generally developed in three main directions, emphasising the supranational, national and transnational dimensions. First, at the supranational level, scholarly work addressed European political parties and the European Parliament as (dys)functional representative vehicles for a European democracy. Second, turning towards the national level, researchers studied the way political actors and institutions within Member States deal with Europe, how citizens perceive and respond to European issues, and how Member State democracies and political practices Europeanise. Finally, explicitly addressing the transnational level, scholars have examined the cross-level and cross-border behaviour and organisation of national political and socio-economic actors, and how their activities (do not) contribute to the development of a European democratic public sphere.

These various subfields have remained relatively separate from each other, despite obvious parallels and interaction, both conceptually and in terms of ‘real-life’ practices. Therefore, our Research Network aims to bring together scholars studying these different aspects of European democracy in its budding transnational space, and foster the development of cross-fertilisation between these subfields.