Dynamic Democratic Deficits and European Identity

No two European Democracies are identical, yet discussions of the EU's democratic deficit frequently depict it as a uniform issue. This study adopts a novel, dynamic approach, acknowledging the diversity in democratic practices across EU member states and the varied expectations these generate. Employing a new macro-level measure of European identity and leveraging data from the Varieties of Democracies project on national democratic characteristics, the study scrutinises the relationship between the differences in democratic practices at the national and EU levels and their impact on European identity. Do convergent democratic practices lead to European identity, or does a common identity lead to convergent democratic practices? The aim is to dissect the nuances of country-specific differences in national and EU democratic practices, as well as their causal relationship with a shared European identity.