The Impact of the Public Sphere on Decision-Making: Is More European More Democratic?

This thesis will grasp the relationship between the public sphere and democracy in its broadest sense. More specifically, the thesis will find out the impact of the public sphere on decision-making mechanisms and will construct its argument within the framework of the European Union. The investigation of whether a more Europeanized/integrated (European) public sphere creates a more democratic decision-making process will form the backbone of the paper. The research will 1) focus on the conceptual analysis of the public sphere as it is accounted for by thinkers such as Habermas, Arendt, and more; 2) scrutinize the democratization and integration process of the European Union; 3) bridge these two with each other and then by turning its lens towards democratic deficit caused by the lack of deliberative democracy and participation in public sphere it will examine the role of political elites and national party politics. The aim is to embed the concept of the public sphere that has often been approached philosophically into the political area through the categorization of political notions.