Abstract
This chapter examines the position of the third sector at the European level, where it has slowly been building a presence. Although great advances have been made, especially from the 1990s onwards, and the sector’s European networks are much stronger than before, it remains institutionally weak and has difficulties linking back to the national level and below. Vertical linkages between the European and national levels are often weak, which means that socially and politically they often constitute different worlds.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Berg, E., & Brandsen, T. (2007). The Dutch Third Sector and the European Union. Connecting citizens to Brussels? Web-Publication 22. Dutch Scientific Council for Government Policy. http://www.wrr.nl/fileadmin/nl/publicaties/PDF-webpublicaties/The_dutch_third_sector_and_the_European_Union.pdf.
Bleijenbergh, I. (2004). Citizens who care. European social citizenship in EU debates on childcare and part-time work. Amsterdam: Dutch University Press.
Bleijenbergh, I., & Brandsen, T. (2007). Naar Een Europees Corporatisme? Een Vergelijking van de Sociale en Civiele Dialoog op Europees Niveau. Beleid en Maatschappij, 34(4), 226–237.
Brandsen, T. (2013). The third sector and multi-level governance in Europe. In S. Ruth, M. Meyer, & C. Badelt (Eds.), Handbuch der Non-Profit-Organisation (5th ed., pp. 401–414). Stuttgart: Schäffer-Poeschel.
Brandsen, T., Pavolini, E., Ranci, C., Sittermann, B., & Zimmer, A. (2009). The national action plan on social inclusion: An opportunity for the third sector? In J. Kendall (Ed.), Handbook on third sector policy in Europe. Multi-level processes and organised civil society (pp. 253–275). Cheltenham: Elgar.
Falkner, G. (1998). EU social policy in the 1990s. Towards a corporatist policy community. London: Routledge.
Hooghe, L., & Marks, G. (2001). Multi-level governance and European integration. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.
Kendall, J., Will, C., Brandsen, T. (2009). The third sector and the Brussels dimension. Trans-EU governance. In J. Kendall (Ed.), Handbook on Third Sector Policy in Europe. Multi-level Processes and Organised Civil Society (pp. 341–381). Cheltenham: Elgar.
Pollitt, C., & Bouckaert, G. (2004). Public management reform (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Schendelen, R. (2002). Machiavelli in Brussels. The art of lobbying the EU. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
Schmitter, P. (2004). Neo-functionalism. In A. Wiener & T. Diez (Eds.), European integration theory (pp. 45–74). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Smismans, S. (2006). Civil society and legitimate European Governance. Cheltenham: Elgar.
Wierckx, J. (2011). The democratic legitimacy of European social movement organisations. Baden-Baden: Nomos.
Zimmer, A. (2001). Corporatism revisited. The legacy of history and the German non-profit sector. In H. Anheier & J. Kendal (Eds.), Third sector policy at the crossroads. An international non-profit analysis (pp. 114–125). London: Routledge.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Brandsen, T., Sittermann, B. (2014). Associating at the European Level: Civil Society Networks in Brussels. In: Freise, M., Hallmann, T. (eds) Modernizing Democracy. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-0485-3_15
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-0485-3_15
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-0484-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-0485-3
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawSocial Sciences (R0)