`Europeanizing' Civil Society: NGOs as agents of political socialization

Article Abstract:

As a strategy for tackling the `democratic deficit', attention is increasingly shifting towards the `Europeanization' of civil society, the latter being traditionally viewed as a means both to limit state power and to promote intra-citizenry solidarity. However, this attempted change requires in turn actors who are both able and willing to act as agents of political socialization in the context of EU policy-making. This article examines the emphasis placed by both EU actors and the current academic literature on NGOs as such agents. Drawing on an analysis of similar claims made in development policy, I isolate the main indicators of NGOs' ability to foster the Europeanization of civil society via political socialization and put forward seven key tests of their ability to carry out this function in the EU context. These are then evaluated against the results of original empirical investigations. I argue that NGOs are currently unsuited to the task of Europeanizing civil society thanks to their inability to promote the political socialization of their supporters. As a consequence that task requires EU-level institutional reform informed by iterated public dialogue, as well as change in the working practices of NGOs.

Brief Article

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Cohesion and citizenship in EU cultural policy

Article Abstract:

This article analyses the ideas and principles that EU cultural policy seeks to promote, and how they are connected to cohesion policy and citizenship. A review of the background to the 2000-04 first framework in support of culture shows that the European Commission justifies cultural policy predominantly in connection with cohesion, while it also aims for the development of a European identity as a civic culture. This view is compared with that of the Committee of the Regions (COR), and the divergence of cultural ends between them is made explicit. Finally, the article relates this case to the wider debate on liberal citizenship and minority/national rights, and warns that such a discrepancy stems from two conflicting models of citizenship.

Social policy, European Union

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Reforming the Commission: Will Organizational Efficiency Produce Effective Governance?

Article Abstract:

For the first time in its history the European Commission is undergoing a major reform. In the aftermath of the 1999 crisis the Prodi Commission has initiated a comprehensive programme for reforming management and accountability. The main focus is improving internal management to enable the Commission to perform its core functions efficiently. However, organizational efficiency in itself will not deal with the more challenging problems of effective governance confronting the European Union (EU). In the future, management reforms will need to address the EU's management deficit by building capacities to improve the effectiveness of policy networks and steer structural change.

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