Civil Society Organizations in the EU Context: A Political-Sociology Approach

This book panel includes the presentation & discussions of three books recently published (or to be published) in the Palgrave series European Political Sociology. All books investigate Civil Society Organizations in the EU context using original analytical frameworks from policitical sociology, bringing studies on European CSOs closer to society.

Sanchez Salgado, R. (2014) Europeanizing Civil Society. How the EU Shapes Civil Society Organizations, Houndmills: Palgrave.

The book shows how the EU has contributed to the shaping of Civil Society Organizations. EU officials and European political entrepreneurs have been crucial in the promotion of funding and access opportunities among CSOs at the national level. 

http://www.palgrave.com/page/detail/europeanizing-civil-society-rosa-sanchez-salgado/?K=9781137355409

Bouza Garcia, L. (2015) Participatory Democracy and Civil Society in the EU, Houndmills: Palgrave

The book analyses whether debates on civil society participation in the years preceding the European Convention (1997-2003) contributed to shape the existing participatory mechanisms of the EU (article 11 Treaty on European Union).

 http://www.palgrave.com/page/detail/participatory-democracy-and-civil-society-in-the-eu-luis-bouza-garcia/?isb=9781137436832

Johansson, H. and Kalm. S (eds) (2015) EU civil society: patterns of cooperation, competition and conflict. Houndmills: Palgrave. 

The broad ambition of this edited volume is to develop a 'relational approach' in which the EU's new political opportunity structures serve as a contextual background for the analyses of relations between civil society actors (CSAs) - including both civil society organizations (CSOs) and actors involved in the European Citizens' Initiatives (ECIs). A relational approach pays attention also to the strategic forms of behaviour, as well as to rifts and competition besides cooperative interactions among actors.