EU CLIMATE CHANGE POLICIES AND CIVIL SOCIETY LOBBYING
EU CLIMATE CHANGE POLICIES AND CIVIL SOCIETY LOBBYING

Summary/Abstract: The paper analyses EU energy and environment governance from the approach of actor-centered institutionalism. It aims to dissect the specific type of actor within the institutional frameworks of EU, namely the civil society and its increasing influence. The behaviour and various forms of impact, lobbying and negotiation are studied, within a framework of theory of social dynamics. As the dominant structural feature of the European Union are the multi-level governance networks rather than hierarchical political authority, such networks encompass member state representatives, networks linking the national and the European levels of decision-making, and networks linking public, private and civil society actors across policy sectors and political levels. Alike in other policy areas in the multilevel system of the EU, an assortment of actors drafts the environment and energy policy, and they come from the institutional and non-institutional ranks. Despite the academic discussion of the legitimacy of civil society’s role as a contributor in international political arenas or the real effect it has in influencing governments, we present the rising official and unofficial influence of the third sector in the climate change arena.

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