1 / 14

European Integration and Domestic Interest Associations: A Comparative Perspective

This study examines the impact of the European Union on domestic policies, politics, and interest associations. It analyzes the distribution of resources and efforts in public influence strategies and lobbying across different levels of engagement. The research focuses on a sample of interest groups in four countries and explores the role of networks and alliances in generating influence.

wpalmore
Download Presentation

European Integration and Domestic Interest Associations: A Comparative Perspective

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. European integration, domestic interest associationsA Comparative Perspective Prof. Dr. Jan Beyers ACIM

  2. The European Union and interest associations • The European Union is an actor: rules that impact upon domestic policies, politics and polities • The European Union is an arena: an additional political opportunity structure • European integration • has direct consequences: rules, regulations, directives • has indirect consequences: enlarging the scale of economic transactions

  3. A simplified European POS domestic European

  4. positional sample of groups in four countries; large amount of formal sources • focused on influencing the EU’s role in WTO-policies in three sectors: agriculture, services and steel • structured elite-interviews between 2003 and 2006 focused on 1, 2 or 3 issues per organization (to be selected out of list of 20 issues) Research design: sampling actors and issues

  5. Domestic venues are still of a key importance, everywhere and for everyone! • How are resources and efforts invested in public influence strategies and lobbying/ contacting strategies • distributed across levels where you are active?

  6. Networks generating influence (Belgian data)

  7. Belgium; decentralized representation and a ‘diplomats paradise’

  8. Belgium; decentralized representation and a ‘diplomats paradise’

  9. The European Union and interest associations • Belgian coordination network as political opportunity structure for domestic interest groups: • Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cabinet of Foreign Affairs • Top 5 contains 4 ministerial cabinets • Top 5 are cross-sectoral / horizontal actors • Federal level > regional levels • Regional level: both cabinets and bureaucratic actors, both horizontal and vertical • Not only a diplomats paradise, same in Germany, France and the Netherlands • Much more politicized through cabinets • Political parties, primarily coalition parties (same in Germany, France and the Netherlands) • Demonstrates the executive dominance

  10. Lessons learnt • The EU has a substantial impact on civil society organizations (positive and negative) • Almost nowhere do we find formalized access during the pre-negotiation stages • There is a lot of informal lobbying taking place at the domestic level; a context that is highly segmented and complex • Gaining influence is highly uncertain and very demanding in terms of resources and time (for everyone) • Key is information, expertise, knowledge, and most, importantly, networks and allies; almost nobody lobbies alone

More Related