CONSTITUTION The Impact of EU 'Constitutionalisation' on Public Claims-Making over Europe An Economic and Social Research Council Project - Award Ref. RES-000-23-0886. Start: September 2005, for 3 years. Further details This project's main aim is to produce a detailed empirically based study of the emerging trends of public constituency-building over European issues during a phase of European integration. This is done by focusing on developments relating to the European Constitution. Public debates over European issues are investigated both through a detailed study of the British case, and in cross-national comparison with two other European countries (Germany and Spain). The project proposal is available for download in pdf format here: paper_10.pdf We identify three core research questions. First, what is the type, extent and form of the 'Europeanisation' of claims-making and public constituency-building that occurs in the British public sphere? Here we investigate the acts of communication by public actors over Europe, using a political claims-making method. Secondly, what is the location, nature, form and extent of the 'democratic deficit' in British politics with respect to Europe? This section uses interview methods to investigate the networks of civil society actors who make public claims over Europe. Thirdly, to what extent are there cross-national differences and similarities in these emergent trends? Our broad concern is to trace the nature of the relationship between European integration, as an institutional form of polity-building, and civic participation in politics over Europe in the public sphere. See working papers and publications for current outputs. For more details, please contact Paul Statham or Asimina Michailidou. The online 'communication platform' for the project is hosted by the Humboldt University Berlin and can be visited at: http://lms.cms.hu-berlin.de/moodle/course/category.php?id=48 . European partner institutions for this research project: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany: www.hu-berlin.de (principal investigator: Prof.dr. Klaus Eder) ARENA Center for European Studies, University of Oslo, Norway: www.arena.uio.no (principal investigator: Prof. Hans-Jörg Trenz) Universidad de Leon, Spain: www.unileon.es (principal investigator: Dr. Agustín Menéndez) Link to funding body's website: Economic and Social Research Council: www.esrc.ac.uk ESRC Society Today: www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk