[ecrea] New book: Political Communication in Europe

New book: Political Communication in Europe: The cultural and structural 
limits of the European public sphere
By Francisco Seoane Pérez, Assistant Professor in Political 
Communication, University of Castilla-La Mancha

Published by Palgrave Macmillan
ISBN: 9781137305121 (Hardcover)
304 pages

Online info:
http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?pid=656785

About the book:
The patent disconnection between the institutions of the European Union 
and the citizens of Europe has been widely attributed by political 
leaders and scholars to a 'communications gap', that is, to the way EU 
affairs are mediated by the media, and to the apparent lack of interest 
by national elites in conveying the importance of Europe. This book 
challenges this 'mediation theory' and suggests instead a cultural and 
systemic explanation for the distant and bureaucratic character of the 
European Union. Apportioning the blame for the communication gap to the 
media and national politicians neglects two real deficits which prevent 
Europe from enjoying a vibrant public sphere: a deficit of 
domesticisation, a popular disconnection with the idea of the EU, and a 
deficit of politicisation with European politics, it being difficult to 
categorise as through traditional methods of 'left vs. right'. This book 
suggests that popular disengagement with the EU is a consequence of the 
fact that Europe as a cultural community is an interdependent continent 
rather than a nation and that, as a political institution, the EU is a 
pseudo-confederation full of anti-publicity bias, elite-driven 
integration, corporatism and diplomacy. The result is a book that is an 
essential read for students and scholars of political communication and 
of the European Union.

Contents:
Introduction
1. The True Deficits of the European Public Sphere: Domesticisation and 
Politicisation
2. The Anti-popular Bias of Integration by Stealth
3. Governing the EU: Consensus Diplomacy and Associative Corporatism
4. The 'no demos' Conundrum
5. Explaining the Domesticisation Deficit
6. Explaining the Politicisation Deficit
7. Conclusions
Methodological Appendix

Endorsements:
‘Seoane Pérez confronts the questions key to understanding not so much 
why people seemingly do not 'love' the EU but why they continue to find 
engaging with it unappealing. With Euroscepticism rising on the eve of 
the 2014 elections to the European Parliament, the book could not be 
more timely.'
- Juliet Lodge, Institute of Communication Studies and Jean Monnet 
European Centre of Excellence, University of Leeds, UK

'Seoane Pérez offers a sharp and astute analysis of the EU's chronic 
malaise coming to the conclusion that it suffers from not one, but a 
double democratic deficit: a domesticisation deficit, the failure to 
connect to the EU as is always remote, and a politicisation deficit as 
EU politics is not 'normal' politics, amenable to a left versus right 
distinction. Across the axes of community, integration and governance, 
the book manages through original research and analysis to open new 
horizons in a tired and self-fulfilling debate about the EU, democracy 
and citizenship.'
- Katharine Sarikakis, Department of Communication, University of 
Vienna, Austria

'With his careful study of the system of political communication in 
Europe, Seoane Pérez demonstrates how the political organizations of the 
EU have been built to stifle any pervasive sense of a European polity. 
From euroskeptic Yorkshire to pro-EU Galicia, his interviews, 
observations and news content analysis reveals why the framing of 
regional issues by political actors has actually prevented citizens from 
feeling that EU issues are relevant or contentious enough to engage them.'
- Philip N. Howard, Department of Communication, University of 
Washington, USA

About the author:
Francisco Seoane Pérez holds a PhD in Communications Studies from the 
University of Leeds, an MA in Communication from the University of 
Illinois at Chicago (USA, 2006, with a grant from the Fundación Pedro 
Barrié de la Maza) and a BA in Journalism from the University of 
Santiago de Compostela (2001). His scholarly interests include the role 
of journalism in liberal democracies, the idea of a European public 
sphere, and the impact of the Internet on political participation. He is 
an associate editor for the International Journal of Media Cultural 
Politics. Dr. Seoane Pérez was the recipient of the 2013 THESEUS Award 
for promising research on European integration for his PhD dissertation 
upon which this book is based.

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Francisco Seoane Perez
Profesor Ayudante / Assistant Professor
Facultad de Periodismo / School of Journalism
Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM)
E-mail: (francisco.seoane /at/ uclm.es)
Web: http://www.uclm.es/cu/periodismo/profesorado/franciscoseoane.asp

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