Europeanizing Civil Society: How the EU Shapes Civil Society Organizations (Palgrave Studies in European Political Sociology)

The European Union clearly matters for Civil Society Organizations (CSOs). EU officials and European political entrepreneurs has been crucial in the promotion of funding and access opportunities, but they have been proven to have little capacity to use CSOs for their own purposes. The European Union (EU) has clearly made a difference for Civil Society Organizations (CSOs). EU officials and European political entrepreneurs have been crucial in the promotion of funding and access opportunities, but they have been proven to have little capacity to create CSOs from scratch or to use CSOs too bluntly for their own purposes. This book brings Europeanization studies closer to society by providing a sociologically-informed analysis, which challenges current assumptions and highlights neglected areas of study. It also addresses many of the methodological challenges in the empirical study of the Europeanization of interest groups, including a comparative analysis over a long time period. The book provides a comparison across three countries, France, UK and Spain, and two policy sectors, international solidarity and social CSOs. Front Matter....Pages i-xviii Introduction....Pages 1-13 The Europeanization of CSOs—Institutional Impact or Strategic Action?....Pages 14-37 Front Matter....Pages 39-39 Domestic Civil Society: National or European?....Pages 41-68 A European Policy for CSOs? Exploring European Political Opportunities....Pages 69-93 European Opportunities: Institutional Factors and Creative Usages....Pages 94-119 Front Matter....Pages 121-121 EU Funding of CSOs: From New Public to New Civic Management....Pages 123-146 CSOs and Identity Building: Cheerleaders for European Integration?....Pages 147-166 Front Matter....Pages 167-167 The Europeanization of CSOs’ Participation: Beyond the Brussels Consensus....Pages 169-196 Conclusion: The Political Construction of European Civil Society: Legitimate and Democratic?....Pages 197-217 Back Matter....Pages 218-259 Cover; Contents; List of Tables, Figures and Boxes; Acknowledgments; List of Abbreviations; Introduction; 1 The development of research on European CSOs: Fragmentary and unbalanced; 2 The EU's role in changing domestic CSOs: A sociologically informed analysis; 3 A sociological comparative approach; 4 Outline of the book: Europeanization of CSOs as a EU-driven process; 1 The Europeanization of CSOs-Institutional Impact or Strategic Action?; 1 Europeanization studies, including a sociological dimension?; 2 Combining approaches: The challenge of the research design