Governance and Civil Society in Europe

The relationship between civil society and democracy has been subject to increasing academic discussion in recent years. Particular attention has been paid to the contribution of associations to institutional effectiveness, the implications of the voluntary sector taking on some of the social policy functions of the state, the role played by social movements in agenda setting, and the importance of deliberative fora at all levels of governance and the related contributions of organised civil society. In order to better understand these processes, the panels in this section will seek to examine the role of civil society organisations both at the theoretical level and empirically in specific policy sectors in relation to various levels of governance within European countries, and at the EU and transnational level. Key to understanding the civil society-governance relationship are the issues of representativeness of civil society organisations and the nature of the political opportunity structure in which they operate. Thus, who do these organisations represent? Are they elitist or democratic organisations? Do they actually reflect public opinion? What is their relationship to social movements, parties and other political actors? To what extent are they enmeshed in wider societal networks? Moreover, how effective are civil society organisations in affecting policy outcomes? How do differing patterns of openness and responsiveness to their demands across political opportunity structures affect the success of civil society organisations? What features of and changes in the political system and power structure of a country/system of governance facilitate the emergence and contribute to the success of civil society organisations? How do the opportunities for civil society organisations to influence policy-making and the patterns of their exclusion and inclusion differ across the various levels of governance and the countries and regions under consideration? We are looking for panels that address the themes of civil society at different levels of governance (from the local to the transnational level), civil society in the new democracies of central and eastern Europe and in relation to particular policy areas such as environmentalism, anti-discrimination and regional policy as well as broader theoretical perspectives. Panels and chairs have already been identified for civil society at the EU level, environmental policy and regional policy.