Taking as its starting point the major issues of democracy which are the ongoing concerns of every liberal Western political system, this volume offers a wide-ranging review of democracy in the European Union. It treats the EU as a new type of political system within the tradition of parliamentary democracies, a system which is neither federal nor intergovernmental, and which consequently has unique problems of how to handle democratic requirements.The major challenge for the EU is institutional design to establish democratic institutions for supranational policy-making. The EU design involves the roles of formal and informal actors, associations, citizens and societal interests in the decision-making process. The democratic challenges have to do with how authoritative decisions are made, with implications for effectiveness and sovereignty within the EU.Part One deals with the two major challenges of interest articulation in the EU, political parties and lobbying. The second part discusses how democracy becomes the key element in the linkage between the EU and its member states, focusing on three countries where the relation to the EU constitutes an important part of the national democratic debate, France, Italy and Belgium. The third part focuses on democratic aspects of key EU institutions, the European Council, the European Commission and the European Parliament. The final part looks at democracy in relation to possible EU development generally, and in the context of societal change which may tend to undermine the role of parliamentary institutions.The particular challenge for the EU is that it has to improve both its effectiveness and democracy at the same time, demands which will make the system more complex and vulnerable. Further expansion of democracy at the EU level will prove difficult unless federal elements are strengthened, something which seems unlikely in the near future. In the meantime, the European Union will have to live with the shortcomings and contradictions of its democracy.