Suchergebnisse

The paper presents results of an online survey among academics on the existing conceptions of civil society as related to the EU. The study reveals that there exist two independent conceptions of civil society, one of which sees civil society as composed of civil society organisations articulating and representing the interests of a constituency, the other locates civil society in the sphere of social interaction. These different conceptions as well as preferences for specific definitions of civil society impact on the classification of general interest groups, trade unions, professional organisations and business interest associations as CSO. As it is only the first, encompassing conception of civil society which is easily incorporated in a governance approach and well in line with the principles of representative democracy conception of civil society as promulgated by the European Commission while scholars lining up with the social sphere approach have difficulties to see EU associations as part of Europe's civil society, the conclusion is that the distinction between the two conceptions of civil society should be brought out more clearly.

Contribution to the CONNEX Final Conference; Mannheim, March 8th, 2008; Workshop 5: Putting EU civil society involvement under scrutiny; Panel: Civil society organisations in EU governance: lobby groups like any other?

"On 25th-27th October 2007, after more than three years of CONNEX ('Connecting Excellence on European Governance'), Research Group 4, working on 'Civil society and interest representation in EU-Governance' and Research Group 5, working on 'Social capital as catalyst of civic engagement and quality of governance' met in Piran, Slovenia for a Wrapping-up Conference (WUC). The main aim of the conference was to bring together the state of the art knowledge of both Research Groups. The idea was to present new insights gained during CONNEX, to deduct new research questions for the last months of CONNEX, as well as for continued research after CONNEX, thus assuring sustainability. The conference focused on three aspects of civil society and European governance and a number of cross-cutting questions were discussed related to biased representation (Session I), participatory engineering (Session II) and civil society and democracy in the EU (Session III)." (excerpt)

"The present consultation regime of the European Commission is marked by the role the Commission assigns to non-governmental actors or civil society organisations (CSOs). The Commission's documents on its policy of consultation and cooperation with external non-governmental actors reveal that a reflective approach has emerged during the 1980s, referring to a more elaborate concept of 'good governance'. The gradual extension is most noticeable in the change of terminology, from 'consultation' (1960/70s) to 'partnership' (1980/90s) and 'participation' (1990s/2000). This trend was fostered by the recognition of 'civil society' as addressee of the Commission's consultation policy and potential source of democratic legitimacy. Yet, does today's consultation regime of the European Commission enhance democracy through participation?" (excerpt)