Editorial note to Newsletter 4 "Dialogue and Debate" section

The theme for this issue of the CINEFOGO Newsletter is “A European public sphere?” Although contested among scholars, the very concept seems to play a role in debates on future European development. Below we print two texts, both adressing the theme. We urge readers to respond on the topic and the two articles.

Firstly, we present an essay written by Martin Potucek from Charles University in Prague, on “The Challenge of Broadening the European Public Space”, and next a contribution by Michael Strange from Roskilde University, titled “An Open-Ended European Public Sphere”. – In this context we presuppose, that the two terms “European public space” and “European public sphere” can be regarded as synonymous - and consequently the acronym EPS represents both expressions. At any rate, considerations on the character and functionality of the EPS are associated with the core concepts of: active citizenship, policy formation, and democratic legitimacy.

In his introduction, Martin Potucek mentions different positions among scholars as regards the question whether a European public space actually exists and/or is well-established as a concept, and brings into focus some difficulties associated with the strife for effective engagement of scholars in the effort to broaden the European public space. – Michael Strange has taken Margot Wallström’s essay: “European citizenship as seen from Brussels“ (cf. no. 3 of this Newsletter) as his point of departure, and he offers some reflections on the European public sphere as a governance network operating as the multitude of overlapping sub-networks.