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International Encyclopedia of Civil Society pp 332–338Cite as

Civil Society and the European Union

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Introduction

Research on civil society and the European Union (EU) has become a growth industry and it reflects both a growing presence of organized civil society in EU affairs and rising expectations in the democratic virtues  of a European civil society. From the very beginning, a core question has been, if civil society can enhance the democratic quality of the EU. In spite of this common interest, the concept of civil society is highly ambiguous, which makes it difficult to put the different strands of thinking together. Scholars are attached to their own research agenda and those who are primarily interested in the constitutionalization of the EU (Fossum & Trenz, 2006) will take a different stance from those who take up the issue of  relocation of social activism (Ruzza, 2004) and those who want to know how the involvement of organized civil society in EU governance affects the democratic legitimacy of the Union (Greenwood, 2007; Kohler-Koch, 2007). This article will try to make...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universität Mannheim, Mannheimer Zentrum für Europäische Sozialforschung (MZES) D-68131, Mannheim, Germany

    Beate Kohler-Koch

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  1. Beate Kohler-Koch
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany

    Helmut K. Anheier

  2. Hertie School of Governance, Berlin, Germany

    Helmut K. Anheier

  3. George Mason University, Arlington, VA, USA

    Stefan Toepler

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Kohler-Koch, B. (2010). Civil Society and the European Union. In: Anheier, H.K., Toepler, S. (eds) International Encyclopedia of Civil Society. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-93996-4_155

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