Organized Interests and Interest Intermediation - East and West

Syllabus

Most of the literature on transition in Central and Eastern Europe concentrates on public administration, political parties and, increasingly, civil society and its organizations as the actors most relevant for the consolidation of democracy. Relatively little is known about those groups that figure prominently in the accounts of corporatist versus pluralist societies in Western Europe: trade unions and business associations. This course is designed to rectify this situation.

Starting with a selection of modern classics, we shall first deal with interest aggregation and representation and address the question to what extent collective action theory as well as the pluralist and the neo-corporatist tradition are actually of use in a situation that considerably diverges from the one for which these theories have originally been designed. Secondly, we shall then turn to the notion of interest intermediation and focus on interest groups as mediators between the state and the societal dimensions. Thirdly, we shall focus on the question in how far interest associations are different from other societal actors (NGOs, social movements, etc.) and what distinguishes them in terms of both organizational properties and action capacity. Finally, a large part of the seminar will be reserved for the presentation and discussion of empirical case study material on the specifics of interest intermediation in Eastern and Western Europe.

After a brief introduction by the lecturer, further sessions will consist of seminar presentations by participants and subsequent discussion. Students from Central and Eastern Europe are invited to present material published in their respective language that is otherwise inaccessible to other participants. The course is addressed to students with an interest in comparative analysis and some basic knowledge in theories of the state and of society. It is open to students of all Msc and PhD programs delivered by the Faculty of Social Sciences, namely Public and Social Policy, Sociology, Political Science and Economics.

Albeit not binding, it is highly recommended to register for the course together with the one on 'State-society relations in Central and Eastern Europe' offered by Grote during the winter term 2007. Course schedule and reading list will be distributed at the first meeting.

Annotation

Europeanization: Concepts and Applications

Jürgen R. Grote (Marie Curie Chair)

There are two main perspectives of looking at European integration. The first, essentially, asks for the extent to which domestic institutions, political parties, organizations and rules, norms and habits shape and structure EU politics and policy-making. The second perspective, in turn, asks for the ways of how EU institutions impact and influence domestic structures and patterns of behavior. This latter perspective, currently very much en vogue in the field of integration studies, has come to be labeled Europeanization. In this seminar, we shall try to reconstruct the history of the term Europeanization and look at its various, and often quite contractory, meanings. We shall first address the traditional persepective (bottomup integration) and shall then move towards the question of whether

Europeanization is a useful analytical terms at all. A large part of the seminar will be reserved to discuss empirical applications in fields so diversive as domestic social policies, regional policies, industrial policies, telecommunication policies, media policies, environmental policies and so forth. Particular emphasis will be put on the question whether the concept of Europeanization can indiscriminately be applied to change in policy-making and to institutional (administration, etc.) and organizational (political parties, movements, interest groups, etc.) change alike.

The course is open to students of all Msc and PhD programs delivered by the Faculty of Social Sciences, namely Public and Social Policy, Sociology, Political

Science and Economics. It will prepare the grounds for follow-up seminars on European integration and new modes of (European) governance to be held during subsequent terms. Course schedule and reading list will be distributed at the first meeting.