Europeisk medborgardialog?
En implementeringsstudie av Plan D som i demokrati,dialog och debatt
In an effort to strengthen democracy in the union, the EU in 2005 took a new approach to communications policy to reach out to the citizens. The strategic document "Plan D for Democracy, Dialogue and Debate" was accompanied by two other documents, and the three of them were the core of this policy. Both democracy and communications work means at EU level a higher complexity than in the nation-state arena. Objective of this study is to examine how the implementation of Plan D has turned out in a democracy renewal perspective. To achieve that answers are sought to questions concerning the goals of Plan D, how they are still present today, what happened in practice regarding the efforts that are highlighted, and how the substance of the activities can be judged from a democratic theory perspective. Implementation theory, communication theory and democratic theory are central elements in answering these questions. The study is divided into three analytical levels: European, national, regional and local level. The method used is thoroughly qualitative text analysis. At regional and local level, a comparative case study concentrates in two organizations involved in the implementation work. The empirical material used consists of documents related to Plan D, and partly the result of interviews with officials who work practically with communication. The study shows that the focus of communications work is not on citizen participation in decision-making, much of the work is all about information and that it is characterized with a classic view of communication. Given that it is considered that the studied implementation of Plan D is not about a European civil dialogue where participation in the decision making is a central part.