Interest Groups and Collective Action in the EU

The aim of this class is to study the organisation and the functioning of public and private interest groups (such as trade unions, NGOs, business organisations, firms and social movements) in the European Union. We will look both at the establishment of groups as well as their internal and external working methods. Public and private interests contribute to the generation, definition and in particular the perception of issues in the European Union policy making processes. This class will attempt to answer the following questions: Who is represented by interest groups at the EU level? Who intervenes in EU agenda-setting processes? How do problems emerge, and are framed by interest groups in the European Union realm? And finally, are interest groups a danger or a force for the European democratic system? Starting from a conceptual and theoretical approach, analysing interest groups both as a notion and as actors in comparative political systems, in the second part of the class we will look at a number of case studies.

Sciences Po Grenoble - UGA awards credits based on the ECTS system. Contact hours listed under a course description may vary due to the combination of lecture-based and independent work required for each course. CEA CAPA's recommended credits are based on the ECTS credits assigned by Sciences Po Grenoble - UGA (2 ECTS credits equals 1 U.S. credit therefore, 5 ECTS credits is equivalent to 2.5 U.S. credits).