There is a growing interest into domestic Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) engagement with EU politics and the possibilities by domestic actors to represent members and beneficiaries in debates 'in Brussels'. The relevance of such research seems pertinent in the face of the current crises facing the European Union (EU), as domestic CSOs mobilise to address social and economic injustices at national and European levels. This paper seeks to address why some national CSOs participate or abstain to participate in debates about European integration and the policies of the EU at the pan-European or national level? Unlike current research we seek to explore this question paying particular emphasis to the CSOs as such, i.e. to organizational factors, to explain domestic CSOs advocacy activities.
Instead of relating organizational activities to changes in the political opportunity structures, the institutional design, or the degree of ex-/inclusiveness of a particular issue at national and/or EU levels this paper seeks to explore this question in the backdrop of what kind of organizational resources, structures and features that seem to influence why some domestic CSOs engage in EU politics, and why others refrain, to what extent they deem the EU relevant for them and what type of strategies (lobbying vs. protest) they potentially deploy. The paper draws on an original survey with more than 6000 Swedish CSOs, including both social movement organisations as well as interest groups, operating at national and sub-national levels.
