Hey, European bloggers and European readers!
I’ve been asked by the organisers to guest blog on TH!NK ABOUT IT and
with great pleasure I am doing so.
For my first guest post I would like to tackle a double
question:
Why there are no true Europe-wide election
campaigns - and why I am a little bit disappointed with TH!NK09 (so
far).
The reason for the first part of the
question - apart from the election system that foresees national lists
- is very simple:
The national parties would need to construct completely new stories to
run a true European election campaign on the national level. They
would need to develop new arguments, inform themselves about what is
going on on the European level, get in touch with their MEPs and
discuss about goals and possibilities, something they haven’t done for
years.
But national political parties don’t care for what is going on in
Brussels and Strasbourg, they are centred in their little world of
local, regional, and national self-content.
Yet, European politics demand particular involvement, because news
about what is going on usually doesn’t leave the halls and offices of
the EU institutions, apart from a small number of highly mediatised
issues. And what parties don’t find in the media is not relevant for
their national party functionaries (if you exclude a limited number of
individuals dealing with European matters on a more regular basis).
But for a true European campaign, the national parties would not
only have to construct a new story, but they would need to explain
this story to voters who are used to be confronted with national
argumentations only.
So a European campaign would involve double work for national parties:
First, they would have to spend time to build their new story line,
with good ideological arguments and practical examples, and then they
would need to invest much more time and effort than for most other
elections to make voters understand these new stories. That is a lot
of work…
Hence, running a national campaign for the European elections is
the easiest solution for national parties.
It is pure laziness, unwillingness to make new things and to face
inconvenient questions that could reveal that, in fact, almost nobody
within the national political parties cared about the European
Parliament’s activities for the last five years. And if not even the
political parties cared - how can you expect citizens to care?!
Sure, some of the competitors will still manage to project their
political goals and ideologies to the European level, promising peace,
prosperity, solidarity and freedom all over Europe. The European
parties are helping by creating European manifestos and slogans which
can be used as guidelines to hide the national character of the
campaign.
Nevertheless, when you look behind the facades, you’ll easily discover
that the argument remains national, even though the language becomes
Europeanised. Because as I said above, this is the easiest solution
for lazy political actors, which mostly also want to use the playing
field of the EP elections to gain political points in their national
arena.
This is weak. Boring. Mostly irrelevant for what is actually going on
in Brussels and Strasbourg.
But the human being is lazy.
And this brings me to TH!NK ABOUT IT and to my disappointment about
the results it has brought over the last three months:
What I see is a certain laziness.
At the beginning, over the first weeks, I saw enthusiastic moves and
posts and I was glad about the dynamics. But the day-to-day laziness
won over the initial enthusiasm.
The average Th!nk-blogger has published 5 articles over the last 90
days, which means around one article every 2 1/2 weeks. And apart from
a number of exceptions, the focus was on abstract European issues or
on rather irrelevant national questions.
These issues replaced much more interesting national perspectives on
European issues of the campaign or European perspectives on national
issues connected to these elections.
With three bloggers from every EU country, this community was most
appropriate for discussioning these things; yet so far, this
opportunity has been missed.
There have still been a number of interesting articles - what comes up
to my mind spontaneously are some posts by Lithuanian, Latvian and
Slovenian th!nkers - and some of the bloggers have posted much more
than the obligatory last-day-of-the-month post I could witness when my
RSS-feed exploded on the 28th, 30th and 31st.
But tranquillised by the seemingly nothingness of a European
campaign, many bloggers of this competition seemed to have resigned,
maybe also discouraged by the fact that only few “outsiders” showed
open interest in what was written.
In the end, the focus on apparently more important personal goals has
suppressed the responsibility as a European citizen with a perfect
platform to do what this European Union lacks, that is to foster true
European debates, to care for what is really relevant, and to be ahead
instead of lagging behind.
But why should TH!NK ABOUT IT be better than what we get for the
European Parliament elections?
What we get before these European elections is a lack of enthusiasm, a
lack of creativity, a lack of understanding for the important issues
in Europe today. What we get is a lack of involvement of the public,
that is neither from the side of most individual citizens nor from the
civil society that represents them in parties or NGOS.
Still, one thing is sure: If the EU shall not just be an
administration that takes over responsibilities from our national
democracies without giving more room for European democracy, then we
will have to show more impetus, more interest, more active
involvement.
What I expect from you, TH!NKERS, for the last month of the
European Parliament election campaign is that you create a true
pan-European debate:
Criticise the national focus of the parties of your home countries by
showing that what they talk about is mostly irrelevant for what is
going on in the European Parliament! Take up European level
discussions and perspectives and break them down to what they mean for
your country!
Or, contribute to a real European discussion by debating all-European
issues under an all-European perspective. Relate to each other, quote
each other, ask questions, criticise! But no matter what you do: Do at
least more than what you have done so far!
Be better than our lazy political parties, our old-fashioned
politicians, or our careless media!
This is the only way how we - blogging citizens - can contribute to
the future of the European Union:
By being better Europeans than those before and those around us!
(17 votes, average: 4.41 out of 5)
Loading ...
Excellent post, Julien, and unfortunately only too true. However I would take issue with one point, and that is the ascription of laziness to all who do not take up the European debate in terms that you would approve.
There are reasons why the general public is apathetic and blaming people for laziness is a bit like a company blaming its customers for not buying its products. The fact of the matter is that we live in free countries, and if people choose to be more engaged with football, fashion, business or national politics it is important that we analyse the reasons and not just blame the citizenry.
And the fact of the matter is that the EU succeeded in engaging with its citizenry when it offered peace and prosperity after WW2, but since then has been gradually sliding into irrelevance. We are currently enduring the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930’s, and what doe the EU do? Well, almost nothing.
Excuse me for not getting excited about roaming calls price reductions or the standardisation of electric plugs. These things can be important, but in the current context, are more like obsessing about re-arranging the deckchairs on the Titanic.
The the sad fact is that the EP elections will make little difference to most people. The EP doesn’t elect a Government, and we already know who the next Presidents of the Commission and the Council will be. And we know that their policies won’t change much from what went on before.
People fight for what they can believe in, and sadly the EP inspires little belief at the present time - not when millions are losing their jobs, medical benefits, educational opportunities or quality of life. In fact the very determination of many people NOT to vote is sending it’s own message and warning to the leaders of Europe. If democracy can no longer deliver justice then people will take to the streets.
We are in danger of replicating the Weimar republic with the sheet irrelevance of what passes for democratic participation within the EU. You are mistaking a rising tide of anger and rejection for laziness - a rather common mistake that elites make before they are overthrown - if you don’t mind me saying so!
Thanks Frank for this clear response.
Just to make on thing clear: I wouldn’t blame everyone for not caring about these elections. I am an optimist and enthusiastic person, but this would go way to far. And I am blaming the EU for a lot, yet some of the responsibility lies in the hand(s) of society.
So those who should be socially responsible for caring - the parties and the media - or those who have subscribed to a competition that has the coverage of the pre-electoral process of the EP campaign as major goal - the th!nkers - can be asked to make an extra effort to explain the why, and what, and how. That’s what I would call “laziness”: Not taking the little extra step necessary.
And if the ship is sinking, and if this Union is not able to bring it until the next save harbour, then these actors would be at least responsible to tell that (instead of celebrating lower roaming prices, I’ll agree with you on this topic) instead of talking about different things or not caring at all.
There have actually been a number of interesting posts and a certain amount of engaged discussions, although Julien is right about the fairly low frequency of posting.
The European level parties have been allowed to write manifestos, but the symbiosis between national political parties and governments has incapacitated the Europarties, preventing them from putting forward candidates for even the President of the Commission (not to speak of allowing EU citizens the choice of government).
The governments are, in the main, for the status quo: the old paradigm of diplomacy, not the new one of EU level democracy.
Laziness is perhaps not the best term to describe resistance to change.
Etan does a good job of debunking the “let’s blame the media in his post about British Euroscepticism.
The reality is that both the media and parties are increasingly market driven and it is not in their interest to embrace unpopular causes. We can blame the for publishing over-simplifications or blatant falsehoods in pursuit of an anti-EU agenda, but not for the fact that that is often what their “markets” want to hear.
Yes there should be scholarship and idealism and leadership and you will find some of that here. I have argued long and hard for the Lisbon Treaty in Ireland at a time when the anti-Lisbon parties and groups were far better motivated, organised and funded. We will ultimately win that battle, but the EU inaction on the economic crisis is making that battle harder rather than easier.
Most people engage in politics only when they have to or when their direct interests are effected. Yes, the current generation is living on the benefits of the work of previous generations and we owe it to our children to keep the flame of European idealism alive. The peace and prosperity largely created or sustained by the EU are too easily taken for granted. But you can’t live on past glories forever. You have to be able to demonstrate the relevance and vibrancy of EU democratic participation today, and that is currently a very hard sell.
Many of the participants here have only just started blogging and have many other challenges facing them in their daily lives. I have previously been critical of the level of participation and posting here but you cannot magic up an online community out of nothing in a matter of weeks.
Blogging is about developing multiple multi-directional conversations and relationships between participants and all of that takes time. You cannot switch on such a community and the flick of a bureaucratic switch in Brussels even if a party/conference is a very good way to start.
The fact is that the vast majority of people are nationalist first and Europeans second, and current institutional arrangements tend to reinforce that mindset. When the EU starts to deliver common educational, healthcare, employment and social welfare services and standards across the Union, then ordinary people will start to take notice. Expecting them to feel engaged by deliberately abstrusely worded Treaties designed to be read only by diplomats and lawyers simply isn’t the way forward.
Ad we have our leaders to thank for that!
Hi, Julien!
A great first post - it’s almost two posts in one! You’ve taken two issues (the EU elections and TH!NK) and merged them together seamlessly.
I almost feel like you and me are playing good cop/bad cop with the poor TH!NKers.
We both obviously want the TH!NK project to be a success. I’m encouraging their successes and you’re (at least in this post) pointing out their failings. Together, we’ll either keep them blogging or drive them mad.
Whilst I was reading your post, I was carefully thinking of a response. Unfortunately, when I got to the end of your post, Frank had already written EVERYTHING I WANTED TO SAY.
Cheers, Frank, for your mindreading abilities. You stole all of my points - down to the exact analogy I was going to use (”blaming people for laziness is a bit like a company blaming its customers for not buying its products.”)
Needless to say, since Frank has pirated all of my points, I agree with what he’s written completely.
If I have anything original left to add, it’s that we have to be realistic about what TH!NK can achieve. If any TH!NKERs started blogging here hoping they would change the course of the EU elections or, indeed, have any effect on the EU at all - they will be completely disappointed.
If, however, they use this as an opportunity to get into blogging, network and meet with other people interested in the EU and explore the possibilities of new media, then they will find this an exciting project indeed.
In some ways, TH!NK has already exceeded my expectations. I had no idea TH!NKERs would start blurring the lines between what is a blogger and what is a journalist. But this is exactly what some of them have been doing, by approaching people for interviews and by experimenting with the opportunities afforded by new media (having said that, it’s important to remember that bloggers are NOT journalists - they are something new).
As for TH!NK ABOUT IT being populated mostly by “insiders” - again, we have to be realistic. One of the great things about TH!NK is that there is such a large number of bloggers in the competition (81). With so many people given a direct incentive (in the form of competition prizes) to get involved, the community supports itself.
Only half of what makes up “blogging” is actually writing posts. The other half is commenting. TH!NK has artificially created a community of bloggers AND a community of commenters.
The pragmatic truth is that the EU blogosphere would not look as dynamic as it currently does without the TH!NK project.
The measure of the project’s success, however, is ultimately not how often people post or how much they comment. It is whether or not this artificial community will survive when the incentives are all taken away.
In other words, will people continue to blog about the EU when there isn’t the prestige of TH!NK supporting them? Or the possibility of a new iPhone at the end of the day?
I really hope they will. I know that you, Julien, hope so as well (otherwise you wouldn’t be guest blogging!)
I’m very much looking forward to your future posts!
Joe
- Regarding: “…the fact that only few “outsiders” showed open interest in what was written..”.
Have a look at this post: http://elections.thinkaboutit.eu/2009/04/george-jiglau-ari-rusila-mats-siffels-george-georgoudis-and-me-quoted-by-the-second-best-selling-quality-newspaper-in-greece/ .Let me also inform you that me and another Thinkaboutit blogger, Christina Michaels, just received a phone call by one of the most watched greek channels (private one) to talk about the Euroelections and the Thinkaboutit platform. Well, that doesn’t sound like “few outsiders”. As a “new media” user, I am sure you are aware of the power of the internet. To make an impact it takes time, so be patient!
- Regarding: “The average Th!nk-blogger has published 5 articles over the last 90 days, which means around one article every 2 1/2 weeks. And apart from
a number of exceptions, the focus was on abstract European issues or
on rather irrelevant national questions.”
No, no, no… sorry wrong approach again. “ ουκ εν τω πολλώ το ευ” by Aristotle, which means: “less is more…”. Who wouldn’t choose quality and not quantity or quality over quantity. To be honest, there are few bloggers here who are obsessed with their own topics or interests, which seem to be peripheral, not actually belonging to what we are supposed to talk about in here. I wouldn’t mention names, but we all know who they are. Anyway, freedom of speech above all.
I wouldn’t like to read more articles than the ones which have been already uploaded. They can’t be properly consumed and digested. We need to reduce the amount of the post and try to go deeper. “given the plethora of message-providers and the mounting traffic of content, among the most daunting problems arising is, firstly, that of infoflation (data richness), a term that synthesises the term information with that of inflation in order to highlight attendant problems of entropy” (for more on that: Sophia Kaitatzi-Whitlock 2008, Web 2.0 Interactive: the rise of popular agency and its impact, (unpublished paper part of a lecture at LSE, May 2008 available on line: http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/informationSystems/newsAndEvents/2008events/whitlock.htm)
We should re-examine the physiognomy of the medium (blogosphere), rather than the content itself (Europeaness).
Josef,
You made an excellent point about the importance of comments and discussion, where you set an example for the rest of us.
Great post Julien. I think you should not be discouraged, this TH!NK project it’s relatively quite new. This is a perfect online lab to see the dynamics that happen in a bigger scale. That’s people tend to focus on what they know: their national knowledge. It’s sad that many of us, might being able to discuss better U.S. politics than European.
Another thing, so while internet it’s a great way to communicate people from different geographical areas, for the ones who are used to discuss politics or socioeconomic online, we know there is a tendency to have easy missunderstandings.
Let’s keep up the good spirits.
Ralf, you make the best point and so succinctly - comments and discussion are what it’s all about. Keep it short and simple, people don’t have time to read essays online (and if you do, the very best of luck to you).
Rgds Vince
A very interesting and inspiring post. No one can say if good ideas are taken up. The EU definately needs more people like Julian who promote good ideas and inspire with their impatience.
@ frankschnittger: I do not at all agree with your first argument on “politics as product”. The EU should compete with football and soap operas to get attention? And there is no vision? People who say such things just have forgotten everything that democracy is about, sorry! Either you are interested in co-authoring the society you live in or you are not. And frankly: Because so many people misunderstand the value of participating in politics, just like you, they deserve anything better than having a Europe which will be provincial. Welcome in the humble province dipendent to the new super powers China, India and Brasil.
Have fun in a society were the leader of China might have more of a say on your life than the head of your little cozy nation state. That’s the perspective and who doesn’t get it should continue watching football full-time.
Ok my argument is very, very populistic. But hey, otherways the “fun generation” people like you would not even consider listening for a second, would you?
I agree with Stergios that it’s not about quantity but about quality, and I am not an advocate of more for the sake of more.
I have also noticed that a major greek newspaper has taken up the issue, and my remark regarding publicity was not just about this kind of publicity, but more directed towards an older post on TH!NK09, if I remember correctly written by Frank.
I am also not blaming those who are actually writing regularly, (neither those who write less regularly) and, to be honest, I used the wording “laziness” to make my point a bit more provocative.
In fact, I appreciate a lot the journalistic approach some of the th!nkers have taken, as Josef remarked correctly. And I am impressed by what Stergios and others have produced as video material.
So here’s my point in a more positive way: What we see for these European elections is very similar over different groups - whether we speak of parties, of th!nkers, of civil society organisation, of media organisations etc: There is a small sub-group of people in each of the groups that is investing a lot of effort into both quantitative and/or qualitative work regarding EU-related issues, but most others don’t care or react only to particular incentives. (Those who have commented so far are also among those most actively blogging and commenting.)
Again, I am not blaming people for this, because investing time and effort in such a thing like covering the EU elections is always in competition with other activities, topics, and goals, which can be more important for many reasons.
The reason why I am making my point this strong is that if not more people care more, we can lose grip to democratically elected institutions. And yes, the EP has only limited power and the national governments and administrations rule the circus (if at all) for most of the time, but we are still giving the wrong signs if we don’t care for the little bit of representative democracy.
I think my point should be understandable, and I am not the one complaining for the sake of the complaint.
I have some doubts while speaking representative democracy related EP. Looking from grass root level one could claim that best representation takes place on local level elections, the second best level can be province or national levels. More near the decision makers more accountable they are. One can also argue that national government is better representing local public needs and values than MEPs.
Politics is more complicated issue. Participating politics is not from my point of view synonym to participating EP elections because party politics is only a fragment of political sphere. Also different people and interest groups can select the methods how they try progress their aims. E.g. use of Brussels based trade union lobbyist, national delegation or national bureaucrats can be more effective than use of MEPs. This may not be according democratic ideals and it remains corporatist system but it reflects reality. Also some groups and individuals see that the establishment is so strong that only outside parliament activities can implement some change.
@ Ari
I agree with you assessment that input legitimacy to the EU is not only provided by the EP elections, but also through interest representation. However, we cannot hold lobby and interest organisations accountable for what they do (or don’t do), and there are only limited mechanism that provide pluralism in the access of interests to the institutions (as far as my knowledge on the research in this field goes, at least).
But even if we take these organisations as replacements for a democratically elected legislature, we still would need to care about what they do and say in our (interests’) names, we would need to engage constantly within these organisations to guarantee that our political views might be reflected - and in the end it gets even more difficult to aggregate the interests of 500 Million people through unelected lobbyists than through directly elected parliamentarians.
Why there are no true Europe-wide election
campaigns - and why I am a little bit disappointed with TH!NK09 (so
far).
Truth will set us free. The main problem is that some of people. Dont act free and do the rigth thing even nobody was looking. Media, armed forces, officials, citizens has a great role to proclaim thy glorious sons and daugthers. They, we all know who do this who does that. I think wisdom, integrity & disipline must be a great factor to solve this redundant issue. and greed exploitation of force and power is not divine.