Opening the black box: The professionalization of interest groups in the European Union

2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heike Klüver ◽  
Sabine Saurugger
Author(s):  
Andrea Lenschow

This chapter focuses on the European Union’s environmental policy, the development of which was characterized by institutional deepening and the substantial expansion of environmental issues covered by EU decisions and regulations. Environmental policy presents a host of challenges for policy-makers, including the choice of appropriate instruments, improvement of implementation performance, and better policy coordination at all levels of policy-making. The chapter points to the continuing adaptations that have been made in these areas. It first considers the historical evolution of environmental policy in the EU before discussing the main actors in EU environmental policy-making, namely: the European Commission, the Council of the European Union, the European Parliament, the Court of Justice of the European Union, and environmental interest groups. The chapter also looks at the EU as an international actor.


2019 ◽  
pp. 201-218
Author(s):  
Rainer Eising

This chapter examines the role of interest groups in European Union (EU) politics. It also considers the way in which the EU institutions influence interest group structures and activities. The chapter begins with an overview of the relationship between the EU institutions and interest groups and examines the steps taken thus far to regulate that relationship. It then looks at the evolution and the structure of the interest group system, focusing in particular on two salient aspects: the difference between national and EU organizations; and the difference between specific and diffuse interests.


2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 597-616 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Hollman ◽  
Zuzana Murdoch

The Council presidency holds direct responsibility for the Council’s functioning and moves between EU member states via a six-month rotation scheme. We argue that this rotating Council presidency causes a lobbying cycle among interest groups at the European level, whereby national interest groups from the country holding the presidency temporarily become active at the European level. Using a unique dataset including almost 16,500 registrations of interest groups in the European Transparency Register over the 2008–2017 period, we confirm that holding the Council presidency increases the number of interest groups from that member state in the Transparency Register. We also find that national interest groups generally have a higher likelihood to exit the register following the end of their country’s presidency.


2005 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 414-425 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Jones

This article explores the experience of a researcher who was part of a pan-European team exploring one of the currently available avatar worlds used for educational purposes. The article reports research undertaken as part of the European Union (EU)-funded project EQUEL (e-quality in e-learning) from the point of view of a single researcher. The EQUEL project was organised into several Significant Interest Groups (SIGs) and the Agora SIG was set up to explore knowledge-sharing in 3D (three-dimensional) avatar-based systems, in particular Active Worlds Educational Universe (AWEDU – http://www.activeworlds.com ). AWEDU is a relatively common, stable and explored 3D system. Further details of the research reported here can be found in papers presented by Jensen and Fejfer Olsen et al at the networked learning conference 2004 ( http://www.networkedlearningconference.org.uk/past/nlc2004 ).


VUZF Review ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 3-12
Author(s):  
Tatyana Todorova

The European Commission considers involvement of interest groups as a way to strengthen democratic legitimacy in the European Union (EU). In terms of a strategy for enhancing good governance, the Commission has taken a range of actions to increase civil society inclusion. Whether these measures really add up to democratic legitimacy, however, depends on the allocation of influence among interest groups. In this context, the purpose of this study will be to analyze the distribution of influence by means of a quantitative analysis of submissions via the Commission’s public consultations.


2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 455-456
Author(s):  
Alan Hardacre

The interaction between organised interests and the European Union institutions has been subject to increasing study and analysis in recent years, and the relevance of this increasingly important research agenda has been highlighted by political scandals and developments in 2011.


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