Reaching out beyond Brussels? The impact of European online consultations on the coordination within multi-level civil society organisations. Bruges Political Research Papers 71/2018

Nahr, Hendrik (2018) Reaching out beyond Brussels? The impact of European online consultations on the coordination within multi-level civil society organisations. Bruges Political Research Papers 71/2018. [Policy Paper]

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Abstract

Since participatory democracy is a main pillar of legitimacy for the European Union, the European Commission has undertaken numerous actions in order to install respective tools. One example is public online consultations, providing the possibility to civil society and citizens to articulate their opinion on a specific matter. Scholarly attention highlights multi-level governance and dynamics within civil society organisations that are active in Brussels, as well as on the domestic level. However, this literature is still inconclusive since the effect of online consultations on the dynamics within multi-level CSOs has not been researched yet. This study closes this gap by applying qualitative research methods to assess the activation potential of online consultations. In measuring the participation of domestic organisations and conducting interviews with civil society representatives and European Commission officials, it was found that the general activation of domestic organisations is considerably low. Only in the case of one umbrella organisation undertaking extensive mobilisation measures were domestic members found to be activated (to a limited degree). Moreover, a wide-spread focus on EUlevel contributions by Commission officials also could impact the low level of domestic activation.

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