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By comparing the importance of representative democracy to the EU as enshrined in the Lisbon Treaty with the political systems in the EU´s newest member states, this study explores whether representative democracy can really exist in an enlarged EU and explores the constraints and opportunities for political parties operating the in the EU.

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Introduction PART I: CONTEXT AND THEORY 1. EU Democracy and Europarty Institutionalization 2. Framing the Impact of Enlargement PART II: EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS 3. Widening and Deepening the Political Groups 4. Europarty Ideology: Data and Measurement 5. Ideological Cohesion and Differences after Enlargement 6. Ideology and Pragmatism in the West and the East 7. From Preferences to Behaviour: Voting Cohesion in the EP 8. Left-Right Confrontation or Grand Coalition? Conclusions: Europarties´ Prospects beyond the 2014 EP Elections

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"The book is written in a clear style, with a number of relevant arguments for debates concerning the impact of Eastern enlargement. It presents rich evidence to describe and interpret recent developments in europarties, stressing the new Member States´ contribution to the institutionalization of the parties. As such, the book considerably bridges the existing gap of knowledge in this field." (Vít Hlousek, Journal of Common Market Studies, Vol. 53 (6), 2015)

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Edoardo Bressanelli is a Lecturer in European Politics at the Department of European and International Studies, King´s College London, UK. Formerly, he was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the School of Government, LUISS Guido Carli, Rome. He has recently published in Comparative Political Studies, Journal of European Integration and Journal of European Public Policy.

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