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2019 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

10. Europe: Start Voting Now! Democracy, Participation and Diversity in the Eurovision Song Contest

Author : Anika Gauja

Published in: Eurovisions: Identity and the International Politics of the Eurovision Song Contest since 1956

Publisher: Springer Nature Singapore

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Abstract

This chapter explores the way in which the ideals of democracy are manifest in the Eurovision Song Contest. Through an analysis of the Contest’s voting methods, I argue that that the institutional characteristics of modern democracy have always been present at Eurovision, with a shift over time that has mirrored the expansion of the franchise and the ‘democratisation’ of southern and eastern European states, as well as an increasing demand for direct democracy in the established European democracies. The chapter also explores the myriad ways in which participating countries choose their own acts, highlighting some of the uneasy democratic tensions that arise in balancing demands for greater popular participation with the goal of selecting acts that mirror the diversity and traditions of the competing nation.

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previous chapter ‘If Love Was a Crime, We Would Be Criminals’: The Eurovision Song Contest and the Queer International Politics of Flags

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Title: Europe: Start Voting Now! Democracy, Participation and Diversity in the Eurovision Song Contest
Author: Anika Gauja
Publisher: Springer Nature Singapore
Book: Eurovisions: Identity and the International Politics of the Eurovision Song Contest since 1956
Print ISBN: 978-981-13-9426-3

Electronic ISBN: 978-981-13-9427-0

Copyright Year: 2019
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9427-0_10