Abstract
The last chapter of this book about citizens in Europe is devoted to a theme, or rather to an actor, that is not often mentioned in the literature on the European Union: private companies. To be more precise, such literature does not lack references to companies, on the contrary we can find many such references. The problem is that they focus uniquely on the idea that the private sector is an obstacle to the development of democracy in Europe because it is only committed to pursuing its own interests through lobbying at the expense of the protection of public interests. From this perspective, the development of democracy in Europe would be conditional to the downsizing of the private actors within the governance system.
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Notes
- 1.
See Waddock (2006).
- 2.
In the following pages I use the framework and the materials provided by Manlio De Silvio, an Italian Centre for Social Responsibility (I-CSR) researcher, to whom I am most grateful.
- 3.
For a reconstruction of the Forum’s process from the perspective of the “Brussels Civil Society” organizations, see Fazi and Smith (2006), pp. 54 ff.
- 4.
On 22 March 2006: http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/06/358&format=HTML&aged=1&language=EN&guiLanguage=en (last access: 30th September 2008).
- 5.
The 36 experiences are documented and analyzed in the project’s final report. The partnerships range from the production and marketing of wheelchairs for the disabled which are adapted to any type of road to the building of shelters for children who are victims of domestic violence.
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© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
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Moro, G. (2012). Companies and Citizens in Europe. In: Citizens in Europe. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-1942-6_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-1942-6_9
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