Suchergebnisse

This article analyses the potential effect of the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) on the field of relations between European institutions and civil society organisations (CSOs). The article builds on empirical analysis of data coming from almost a decade of debate about participatory democracy in the EU, and in particular, evidence from the consultation on the Green Paper about the ECI (European Commission, 2009) and 21 signature-collection campaigns that have been launched so far (Fischer & Lichtbau, 2008; Kaufmann, 2010) in order to foresee the attitudes of these organisations towards the initiative. Analysis of the campaigns launched so far suggests the existence of four categories of promoters. The first two are easily expected, that is, EU organisations working closely with members to launch campaigns and large organisations promoting campaigns on visible topics. Additionally, it seems that the ECI may be used in connection to organisations' commercial interests and that political actors (MPs, MEPs and regional and local authorities) may be important drivers. The article finds no evidence of a significant bias of ECIs towards social movements and national organisations but rather towards EU groups able to play the institutional and the protest game. It finds evidence as well that the promoters of ECIs are evenly divided between organisations wanting to protest against the course of European integration and those wanting to influence its course. Adapted from the source document.

European Union (EU) public policy is notoriously technical and consensus orientated, and dialogue between political institutions and interest groups may enhance tendencies for inward looking and elite politics. A new European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) mechanism seems to offer an opportunity to address these structural defects. We examine the entire set of more than 60 signature collection campaigns stimulated by the ECI for the degree of contention and type of campaign they bring to EU politics. A key feature of a majority of campaigns involves a diversity of origin, both by territory and campaign source. We record the diverse ways in which the ECI has been utilised by campaigners, noting how campaigns have largely been introduced by a markedly different set of activists than professionalised EU lobbyists, many newly mobilised by a direct participation device and which may require EU lobby organisations to engage with new forms of campaigning. A key finding is that campaigns originating from sponsors already well linked to EU politics were less likely to be of a contentious nature than those from other sources.

Since the argumentative turn in EU studies, research has shown that civil society activists can challenge frames promoted by EU institutions and incumbent groups, and influence public opinion in the EU. However, most studies of civil society mobilisation on EU issues have focused on the vertical framing of issues from Brussels to national capitals, rarely analysing mobilisation beyond Brussels. This article builds upon ongoing research on Spanish civil society activism on the TTIP (Bouza & Oleart, 2018) and framing EU issues on Twitter (Bouza & Tuñón, 2018), contributing to the study of the role of national activists in the horizontal translation of EU-wide mobilisation to national publics. We argue that national actors play an influential role in the discursive struggle to define 'Europe' and the EU in the (national) public spheres (Díez Medrano, 2003). Building on our previous analysis of national activism on TTIP in Spain, we analyse whether activists have engaged in a process of frame bridging (Snow et al., 1986), in order to expand the mobilisation against TTIP towards new issues and constituencies relating to the broader trade strategy of the EU. The present research addresses the role of the Spanish anti- TTIP social movement in the emergence, circulation and bridging of critical frames on the TTIP negotiations in the Spanish Twitter sphere. The article combines quantitative and qualitative methods –network analysis and framing analysis– in order to analyse the role of the @NoAlTTIP network in the building and diffusion of frames challenging the EU institutions discourse on trade in the Spanish context.

The contribution of civil society to bridging the gap with EU citizens : back to one decade of debates -- From the regulation of lobbies to participatory democracy: agenda setting and civil society in the EU -- Interpretive frames in the agenda setting process, 1997-2003 -- Networking and alliances -- Organised civil society and the convention¿s agenda -- Influence on the agenda and field effects -- The development of the participatory agenda in the aftermath of the convention (2003-2011) : consultation and direct participation -- Assessing the contribution of participation to legitimacy

The European Union's official internet portal still highlights how the mechanisms of the Lisbon Treaty for participation through organized civil society and citizens contributes to making the EU more democratic and transparent. Luis Bouza Garcia analyzes the institutionalization of these participatory mechanisms by asking what EU institutions and civil society organizations were trying to achieve in the agenda setting process. This book explores the democratic potential of these mechanisms by analyzing the discourses and activism of the actors involved in the agenda setting, recognition, and implementation of the participatory mechanisms at EU level from 1997 to 2012. Bouza Garcia finds that the aims of civil society organizations namely recognised access to the EU - were more stable than those of the EU institutions which have evolved from fostering participatory democracy to enhance transparency and debates in the European public sphere. Participatory Democracy and Civil Society in the EU concludes that the field of civil society participation is not yet fully stabilized and its evolution will continue.