The latest series of European summits leaves us with a puzzle: on the one hand, they hint at a development of the EU towards an "ever closer Union", on the other hand, they reveal a "piecemeal culture", provoking critique and the demand for an encompassing institutional reform proposal. Among...

It is a truism that the emergent European polity contributes to the transformation of interest representation in Europe. It is, however, highly contested if a uniform system of interest intermediation is in the making and if so, what will be its shape. Pressures to adapt are quite strong, but...

Wider involvement and better knowledge are keywords in the recent White Paper on European Governance. The political discourse has, quite obviously, taken up the academic debate about the importance of ideas and networks. The Commission is seen as an ideational entrepreneur which by arguing and...

Contributors to this volume - Helen Wallace, Director of the Robert Schumann Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute, Italy Beate Kohler-Koch, Professor of Political Science and International Relations, Mannheim University, Germany Armin von Bogdandy, Director at Max Planck...

The involvement of civil society in EU governance is widely interpreted as a right step in the direction of participatory democracy. Civil society associations are expected to communicate the concerns of citizens to Brussels, to engage in public deliberation with EU decision makers and...

The paper presents a new approach to EU governance by stressing the interdependence of governance and integration. It suggests that EU governance is not just shaped by the emerging properties of the EU polity but has a strong impact both on system formation at national and European level. It is...

The working paper gives a first evaluation of a comprehensive survey of trade associations in Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and at the European level. This survey is part of a broader research programme on "Interest Intermediation in the European Union" that started with a number of case...

The paper starts with the argument that in order to present the EU as a case in comparative regionalism a more inclusive understanding of regions has to be developed. When looking at region building as a social process of institutionalization we get a more encompassing understanding of the...