Sponsored mobilization: European Union non governmental organizations, international governance and activism for social rights

The European Union (EU) is experiencing a crisis of democratic support. In an effort to support greater transparency the EU has turned to EU level NGOs as the representatives of civil society. In response, European social NGOs have lobbied for a civil dialogue with the European Institutions. Such dialogue aims to promote support for social policy objectives by fostering a more accessible system of international governance. Recent characterizations of European NGOs portray them as unrepresentative bodies that fail to mobilize national constituents.{09}These observers have been skeptical about NGOs' ability to redress the EU's democratic deficit. Yet, these studies pay scant attention to the FU social NGO sector. This dissertation redresses this omission by specifying the relations between EU social NGOs and the EU. Based on sixty-five interviews carried out between August 1997 and June 2002 with EU officials and NGO members of an EU-sponsored social policy coalition known as the Platform of European Social NGOs (the Platform) and an analysis of information politics/organizational documentation, this study examines the significance of these evolving EU-NGO relations for the strategies and objectives of EU NGOs, the practices of EU officials, and the method of governance at EU level. Since its establishment in 1994 the Platform has become a broker for the reorganization of consultative arrangements between EU NGOs and the EU institutions and currently plays an important role in to bringing together diverse social and political actors in common campaigns. Often described as unrepresentative, EU social NGOs use a variety of framing techniques to establish their credibility and legitimacy as the independent voice of organized European civil society. FU officials have also been affected by their relations with EU social NGOs. While official statements have not extended the rights of full consultation to NGO they do suggest that EU officials consider NGOs a permanent feature of the EU political process. This dissertation builds on research that examines how non-state actors relate to global political processes. It also sheds light on questions within political sociology on the ability of resource poor groups to resist goal displacement after they gain access to routinized politics.