Civil society participation in EU governance

Finke, Barbara

doi:10.12942/lreg-2007-2

Cited by 47 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 55 publications

(45 reference statements)

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“…The renewed interest in normative questions has also come to spur a number of empirical analyses on this topic (Pollack 1997;Smismans 2004Smismans , 2006Warleigh 2001). As a consequence, the study of interest groups in the EU has been systematically linked to democratic theory and concepts of political representation (for a useful overview, see Finke 2007).…”

Section: A Fissured Theoretical Landscapementioning

confidence: 99%

“…This does not necessarily mean that public interests have a greater voice in EU policymaking because their political clout is hampered by their lesser capacity to organize and mobilize sanctions (Imig and Tarrow 2001b,c). But according to several observers, there is now a greater variety of cleavages in EU policy-making and groups that mobilize around ideas and norms have increased in importance (Marks and Steenbergen 2002;Wessels 2004;Finke 2007). …”

Section: Institutional Segmentation Negotiation Systems and Policy mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The existing body of literature demonstrates quite well why national groups join in the circuit of EU collective action and what strategies of interest representation are available to them, but it has also notable gaps, brought about some areas of controversy, and displays some contradictions in its findings (for a similar view of U.S. interest groups, see Baumgartner and Leech 1998). In this article, I review the state of the art in EU interest group research (for a more comprehensive review, see Beyers, Eising, and Maloney 2008a) omitting the role of civil society in EU politics because another Living Review is dedicated to this topic (see Finke 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Interest groups in EU policy-making

Eising¹

2008

Living Rev. Euro. Gov.

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There is a plethora of studies on interest groups in the European Union. While these studies have generated a wealth of insights, it is not actually clear what they have accomplished. This Living Review seeks to identify those areas of interest group studies in which our knowledge is fairly consolidated and in which major research gaps or major controversies can be noted. I argue that these research gaps and controversies stem from both the empirical variance in the interest group landscape and the theoretical segmentation of EU interest group studies. These have been shaped by influences from Comparative Politics, International Relations, Policy Analysis, and Democratic Theory. I suggest that future research should engage to a greater extent in cross-cutting theoretical debates in order to overcome the pronounced demarcation of research areas and in more rigorous theory testing than has sometimes been the case. The article starts by discussing the problem of conceptualizing interest groups before moving on to the fissured theoretical landscape. Thereafter, major research themes are discussed. First, I review the relation between EU institutions and interest groups. Here, I look both into multilevel governance and Europeanization studies that focus on the vertical interaction and into analyses that stress the horizontal segmentation of the EU system in different institutions and sectors. Second, I analyze core themes of EU and comparative interest group studies, namely the issue of collective action, the access of interest groups to policy-makers and their influence on EU policymaking. How to cite this articleOwing to the fact that a Living Reviews article can evolve over time, we recommend to cite the article as follows:Rainer Eising, "Interest groups in EU policy-making", Living Rev.

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Section: A Fissured Theoretical Landscapementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Institutional Segmentation Negotiation Systems and Policy mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Interest groups in EU policy-making

Eising¹

2008

Living Rev. Euro. Gov.

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“…A thorough summary of the research on the role of civil society organisations in EU governance is given by Eising (2008); Finke (2007); Greenwood (2007); Charrad and Eisele (2007). Broader analyses of different aspects of the role of interest groups at the EU level include Beyers (2008), Bouwen (2004), Christiansen and Piattoni (2004), Compston and Greenwood (2001), Dur (2008), Eising and Kohler-Koch (2005), Knodt and Finke (2005), Michalowitz (2004a, b), Ruzza (2004), Saurugger (2008), Smismans (2004) and Warntjen and Wonka (2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is this the way to Brussels? CEE civil society involvement in EU governance

Pleines

2010

Acta Polit

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Whereas state actors from new EU member countries receive formal representation and voting rights that safeguard against their marginalisation in the system of EU governance, civil society organisations from new member states find it much harder to gain access to decision-making processes at the EU level. However, as many of them work on issues that are now (at least partly) decided at the EU level, participation in EU governance should become an integral part of their strategy. Based on a quantitative assessment of membership data for European umbrella organisations and on case studies for which interviews with leading civil society actors were conducted, this article gives a first comparative assessment of the actual participation of civil society organisations from the Central and East European member states in EU governance.

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“…Politicians needed to react to these citizenship voices, and the results of electoral processes taking place in 2017 may have been influenced by what appears to be a new focus on national issues, instead of wider transnational integration. This interaction or protest reaction can be seen as an increasing participation of civil society in EU governance (Finke 2007) with differentiated results across countries. In France, Macron, successful presidential candidate, advocated transition to renewable energy, defended the implementation of a carbon tax and positioned himself against the moves of Trump's administration, but in general, issues around climate change were not the main priority in electoral discourses (Timperley 2017a).…”

Section: Situation At Eu Level and In Member Statesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conflicting energy policy priorities in EU energy governance

Fernández

2018

J Environ Stud Sci

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In the last decade, energy policies across EU member states have shifted, with fears emerging over the feasibility of the decarbonisation targets set up at European level. In many cases, the changes have been triggered by weakened economic conditions linked to the last international economic crisis (2008), but in some others, they respond to national political preferences that have been given priority over long-term goals related to sustainability. The second half of 2016 was particularly full of events that on one hand, introduced uncertainty over markets, and on the other hand, may condition the progress (both weakening it and leaning it towards the wrong path) towards the Energy Union, the latest attempt to achieve energy market integration by the EU institutions. This paper will focus on three events to analyse their influence over EU's energy governance patterns: The first is the Brexit vote and the implications over budget availability for emissions reduction projects. The second is the election of Donald Trump as president of the USA, with his declared disbelief in climate change. Finally yet importantly is the latest decision by OPEC to cut production in order to increase oil prices. With the exception of Brexit, these events are external to the EU, but all of them will have an impact over EU energy policy decisions. Bearing in mind that goals set up for 2030 are already 'softer' than expected compared to the 2020 ones, the question is whether those events could push policymakers more towards European targets concerned with security of supply, conflicting with emissions reduction goals.

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Civil society participation in EU governance

Cited by 47 publications

References 55 publications

Interest groups in EU policy-making

Interest groups in EU policy-making

Is this the way to Brussels? CEE civil society involvement in EU governance

Conflicting energy policy priorities in EU energy governance

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