Considering the future of European integration, this clear and compelling study explores the interplay between collective action and democracy in the European Union. Richard Balme and Didier Chabanet convincingly show that as support for broadening and deepening integration has waned, contentious and powerful social movements have flourished. The authors analyze the relationship among interest-group politics, social movements, and public policy at the EU level though a wealth of case studies on regional policy, unemployment and poverty, women's rights, migration policy, and environmental protection. An essential primer on European democracy, this study will be invaluable for scholars and students in European politics and public policy, globalization and democracy, and comparative social movements.
List of Figures and Tables
List of Abbreviations
Introduction: Collective Action and European Democracy 1
Party Democracy in Crisis 5
Interest Group Politics beyond Corporatism 8
Changing Forms of Contention 9
Collective Action and State Building 12
European Integration and European Democracy 14
Methodology of the Book 15
Book Outline 17
Notes 18
1 Approaching Collective Action 21
The Politics of Organized Interests 22
Understanding Social Movements 24
Pluralism, Corporatism, and Protest: Collective Action Regimes 28
Public Policy and the Mobilization of Interests 35
Conclusion: Collective Action in an Expanding Polity 39
Notes 40
2 Collective Action and Civil Society in Europe 45
Civil Society Density 47
Europe of Religions 50
Organized Labor 53
Structure and Change in Civil Societies 55
Mapping Protest and Its Repertoires 60
Civil Society and Protest Behavior 62
Social and Institutional Foundations of Collective Action 65
Conclusion 71
Notes 72
3 The Making of a Polity: Interests' Mobilization around European Institutions
