Edited by Hakan G. Sicakkan, Associate Professor, Department of Comparative Politics, University of Bergen, Norway

• Contents:1. An Agonist Pluralism Approach to the European Public SphereHakan G. Sicakkan2. Europe’s Territorial Transformation, Regions and Diversity: Towards a Common European Public Sphere?Wanda Dressler3. European Media Policies and the European Public SphereMonika Mokre4. European State Building, Top-down Elite Alliances and the National MediaHakan G. Sicakkan5. Diversity in the Virtual Sphere: Social Media as a Platform for Transnational EncountersDeniz Neriman Duru and Hans-Jörg Trenz6. The Contribution of Think Tanks to the Formation of a European Public SphereMarybel Perez7. Protection, Participation and Legitimacy: The European Union’s Public Consultation System and Ethnic and National MinoritiesJan H. van de Beek and Floris Vermeulen8. Agonistic Politics of the European Parliament: Party and Party Group Alignments and Voting BehaviorRobert Sata9. Toward Empirical Assessment of the European Demos and Public Sphere: Comparing Democratic Value Orientations of Citizens and ElitesMartina Klicperová-Baker and Jaroslav Košťál10. The Role of EU Policies in the Making of the European Public Sphere Hakan G. SicakkanIndex

‘The book is well balanced within normative and empirical chapters. . . . the chapters that form the volume are from scholars who come from different disciplines such as media and communications, political science, sociology, and cultural studies - an astute expertise that makes the book easy to read and enjoyable. I find the book an advancement in the research of the emergence of the European public sphere. The book presents outstanding research about the current state of the European public sphere, with the latest study available on the matter. The book should be read by anyone seeking to understand the current state of the concepts of a public sphere in Europe, and the European public sphere.’