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Abstract. During the late 1980s, direct lobbying of EC institutions became an increasingly important part of the decision‐making process within the Community. Such lobbying strengthens EC autonomy over the interests of member states. Today the system is characterized by unclear principles regulating interest representation and is open to lobbying by many different actors in relation to a range of issues. It tends to be easier for lobbyists to influence technicalities than to advocate general principles. In technical questions, the representatives of industry or affected social interests seem to have more legitimacy when lobbying the Commission. The lobbying pattern varies according to policy areas, for example, between the agriculture and the financial sector. We assume that, in a representative EC system where the parliamentary chain of command is the core, interest representation will have to be more regularized. Thus, corporatist structures is likely to increase in importance, at the expense of the lobbying patterns of late 1980s and early 1990s.

Everywhere a disparity can be observed between the socioeconomic composition of the electorate and the composition of the elected, representative body, which acts as a legislature for the society. Microcosm and macro- cosm are never identical; the legislature never mirrors the population at large. This is a universal generalization. It holds true for all representative systems at all times. It is furthermore true that the character of this disparity differs cross-nationally and over time: each legislature is unique in this sense.

A broad-ranging and highly intelligent account of key recent developments internationally which skillfully updates the public management and governance literatures' - Ewan Ferlie, Royal Holloway. 'Public management has been radically changed and reformed.. this book gives students a fine introduction to these changes and to the theories dealing with them' - J rgen Gr nnegaard Christensen, University of Aarhus. An introduction and guide to the dramatic changes that have occurred in the provision of public services over the last two decades, this book combines theoretical perspectives with a ran

Discusses the role of institutions in the EU policy process. In doing so, the chapter focuses on the power & importance awarded the institutions & political actors of the EU. It also looks at the accessibility of the policy-making process itself. Included in the debate is an analysis of the role of informal institutions. Finally, the chapter investigates the pluralist character of institutions, arguing that the current policy-making process is heavily influenced by external forces. 1 Figure. K. A. Larsen