An exploration and analysis of the regulation and practices of citizens' initiatives in eleven European democracies and the EU. The contributors to this volume shed light on how citizens' initiatives influence patterns of political agenda-setting in representative democracies and how they can contribute to participatory democracy.

On 5 January 2007, Elspeth Guild was invited by the European Commission Select Committee of the UK House of Lords to submit written evidence to assist that body in its scrutiny of the European Commission's annual legislative and work program. This Policy Brief reproduces her submission in full.and addresses six areas of the 2007 Work Program which are related to CEPS' work in the area of freedom, security and justice: 1) the 'big agendas', 2) strategic objectives regarding security, 3) the EU's voice in the world, 4) managing migration flows, 5) managing the acquis and 6) connecting Europe to its citizens.

Making the European Union more democratic and transparent is one of the priorities of the Juncker Commission. It is against this background that the European citizens' initiative is particularly important since it gives them the opportunity to express their concerns in a very concrete way and to influence the European political and legislative agenda. On 31 March 2015, the Commission published its first report on the implementation of this instrument. After only 3 years of existence, the facts show the interest of the general public for the citizens' initiative. In particular, about 6 million citizens have already made use of their new right, and three initiatives have managed to gather more than 1 million signatures. However, we are aware that some aspects can still be improved, and we have started a reflection on possible options for improving the tool and have the intention of involving all relevant stakeholders in this exercise.

This book looks at democratic empowerment via institutional designs that extend the political rights of European citizens. It focuses on three themes: first, the positive and negative effects of the European Union institutional design on the political rights of its citizens; second, challenges for democratic regimes across the world in the 21st century in the context of regionalism and globalization; third, the constraints of neoliberalism and capitalist markets on the ability of citizens to effectively achieve their political rights within the Union.