This volume is the result of a series of four events - three workshops and a final presentation - which the Austrian Institute for European Law and Policy organised from 4 October 2011 to 14 March 2012 in Brussels as "open dialogue" within the meaning of Article 11 (2) TEU. The contributions collected in this volume are a representative sample of the statements of participants of the workshops (mostly panelists, but including a few members of the audience) and therefore show the different perspectives of actors of the "dialogue" at issue. The editors thought it appropriate, however, to add some reflections of a more scientific kind in order to give a fuller picture of the notion and implications of "democracy", in particular in the European context. This includes an essay written specifically for this publication by Prof. Fischer (Cologne), the written version of two speeches delivered only recently by Prof. Gamper (Innsbruck) and Prof. Isak (Graz) respectively at a conference in Salzburg where the topic - "European Democracy" - is closely linked to our subject, as well as a contribution by Prof.
Kudo (Tokyo) on the state of e-governance in Japan, allowing an assessment, by comparison, with a country outside Europe but with similar political, cultural and economic background. This demonstrates how new and ambitious the aim of Article 11 (2) TEU really is. Finally, the editors dared to give a preliminary evaluation of the outcome of the workshops