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The European Commission and the public governance of interest groups in the European Union: seeking a niche between accreditation and laissez-faire.

Greenwood, Justin; Halpin, Darren

Authors

Justin Greenwood

Darren Halpin



Abstract

As interest groups participate in public policy, so demands arise for the regulation of their input. These vary between purposeful laissez-faire, and accreditation in return for norm observance, with attempts to find points between these often focusing on supervised and/or incentivised self-regulation. We classify the EU system as de-facto accreditation, based around generalised and ill-defined notions, and on preferences for the simplification of consultative life and to screen out outsider groups with a narrow membership basis that dont follow the rules of the game. The operationalisation of representativity criteria carries with it the danger of privileging certain categories of groups over other types of groups. A wider legitimacy basis is suggested by a limited comparative literature, a sharpening of the concept of accountability and types of interest groups.

Citation

GREENWOOD, J. and HALPIN, D. 2007. The European Commission and the public governance of interest groups in the European Union: seeking a niche between accreditation and laissez-faire. Perspectives on European politics and society [online], 8(2), pages 189-210. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/15705850701322541

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Dec 31, 2007
Online Publication Date Jun 30, 2007
Publication Date Jun 30, 2007
Deposit Date Sep 22, 2015
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Perspectives on European politics and society
Print ISSN 1570-5854
Electronic ISSN 1568-0258
Publisher Taylor and Francis
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 8
Issue 2
Pages 189-210
DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/15705850701322541
Keywords EU democratic legitimacy; Interest group regulation; Public policy participation
Public URL http://hdl.handle.net/10059/1304

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