The subject of the project is European Public Sphere and its different forms of existence. The main research question is whether there is a common European public sphere, and if there is, what are the empirical forms of its existence. The central tension in the research is the position of Europe on a three-fold field; Europe as a community of nation states, Europe of regions, and Europe as a global actor. At the same time as Europe is characterised by cultural and political plurality, many factors are increasing its global dependency and requiring Europe to have more open interaction. What are the forms and basic values of European public discussion? How can we understand better the challenges that the EU enlargement proposes to the European-wide debate through empirical research? How should the existing institutional and procedural structures be strengthened to promote openness and people’s public participation?

The project divides the earlier research on European Public Sphere in four main normative approaches: the ideal public sphere, the public action and counter-publicity, the institutional-procedural, and the Information Society approaches. These will be evaluated from five dimensions which also form the sub-projects: 1) a comparative historical-sociological dimension, 2) the dimension based on national, regional and global challenges, 3) the dimension of media systems, 4) the dimension of the internet and virtual communities, and 5) the dimension of European cultural and ethnic minorities. The comparative historical-sociological dimension will provide the general framework for the whole project.

The project aims at producing new empirical knowledge on the means and forms of European public debate. The project wants to increase our understanding of European cultural and political dynamics and promote openness and democracy in European public life (policy proposals). The project will bring about a coherent conceptual and theoretical-methodological framework for further research. As a result of the project, several international and national research seminars will be arranged and articles and other publications will be produced. The final report will be published in English and an academic textbook will be edited in Finnish.