Institutional aspects of the democratic deficit: The role of national parliaments in EU matters

• Název práce v češtině: Institucionální aspekty demokratického deficitu: role národních parlamentů v evropských záležitostech
• Název v anglickém jazyce: Institutional aspects of the democratic deficit: The role of national parliaments in EU matters
• Klíčová slova: Evropská unie, demokratický deficit, národní parlamenty, kontrola evropských záležitostí, Česká republika, Polsko, Slovensko
• Klíčová slova anglicky: European Union, democratic deficit, national parliaments, scrutiny of European affairs, Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia
• Akademický rok vypsání: 2006/2007
• Typ práce: disertační práce
• Jazyk práce: angličtina
• Ústav: Katedra mezinárodních vztahů (23-KMV)
• Vedoucí / školitel: doc. PhDr. Běla Plechanovová, CSc.
• Řešitel: skrytý - zadáno vedoucím/školitelem
• Datum přihlášení: 09.06.2012
• Datum zadání: 03.07.2012
• Datum a čas obhajoby: 24.09.2012 00:00
• Místo konání obhajoby: IPS FSV UK
• Datum odevzdání elektronické podoby: 24.07.2012
• Datum proběhlé obhajoby: 24.09.2012
• Oponenti: doc. PhDr. Jan Karlas, Ph.D., M.A.

Seznam odborné literatury

Primární zrodje:

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——— (2010) “The Stockholm Guidelines for the Conference of Speakers of EU Parliaments”, http://www.ipex.eu/IPEXL-WEB/euspeakers/getspeakers.do (Accessed 5 February 2012);
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——— (2007) “Eight Bi-annual Report: Developments in the European Union Procedures and Practices Relevant to Parliamentary Scrutiny”, http://www.cosac.eu/subsidiarity-tests/ (Accessed 3 July 2012)
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Předběžná náplň práce v anglickém jazyce

This dissertation examines the role of national parliaments in the European Union within the context of the democratic deficit debate. It follows two levels on which national parliaments influence European input legitimacy: the European level, where parliaments may directly interact with European institutions and with each other, and the national level, on which the parliaments influence their governments and the actions those take in the Council. The analysis is based on the multi-level governance approach, although it pays more attention to the systemic factors at the European level than on the national level, as this second level offers more possibility to study individual factors.
The first level is examined by studying the inter-parliamentary cooperation. The results show that European level incentives, such as acknowledgement of national parliaments’ role at the European level support inter-parliamentary cooperation, but this support it stronger when this acknowledgement is accompanied by real powers in the decision-making process. They also show that national parliaments do not yet fulfil the criteria of acting as a collective at the European level, which is a precondition of their contribution to the legitimacy of the European Union at this level.
The second level is examined by studying the manifestations of domestic activity at European level (in the Council) and by comparative analysis of three new Member States, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia. The results show that the formal rules and models of parliamentary scrutiny have impact only on the organisation of the parliamentary scrutiny, but not on the level of activity and influence of the parliament in question. Moreover, the results also show that parliaments of the new Member States have been so far less active in European affairs than the parliaments from the Old Member States.
The dissertation is framed by the democratic deficit debate. It falls within the so called Vertical Democracy Paradigm within this debate, although it also offers some consideration on the future relevance of national parliaments' role in European integration for the other paradigms of the debate.