Peer-reviewed article
National Linkages and Ambiguous EU Approaches among European Civil Society Organisations
2014Lundberg, E., & Sedelius, T.Journal of Contemporary European Research
What is this study about?
The study examines how civil society organisations operating at the European level relate to the EU and to their national member organisations. The focus is on the organisations' role as possible links between EU institutions and civil society in the member states. The study analyses both their national embeddedness and how they themselves perceive and relate to the European political level.
What did we find?
The results show that European civil society organisations have important links to organisations at the national level, while their relationship to the EU is characterised by a certain ambivalence. They operate within and seek to influence the EU's political system, at the same time as their legitimacy and organisational embeddedness largely build on national networks and member organisations. The study thus provides a more complex picture of European civil society organisations than as a simple connecting link between EU institutions and Europe's citizens.
Why does it matter?
Civil society organisations have often been highlighted as a way to reduce the distance between EU institutions and citizens and thereby strengthen the union's democratic legitimacy. The study shows why this expectation needs to be nuanced. The organisations' ability to function as democratic links depends both on their access to EU institutions and on how well they are embedded in civil society at the national level. It is therefore important to understand the relationship between European organising, national embeddedness and democratic representation.
Citation
Lundberg, E., & Sedelius, T. (2014) National Linkages and Ambiguous EU Approaches among European Civil Society Organisations. Journal of Contemporary European Research 10(3) 322–336
Research area
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