Representing diffuse interests in EC policy-making
By: POLLACK, Marck A
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ArticlePublisher: London : Routledge, December 1997Journal of European Public Policy 4, 4, p. 572-590Abstract: Protecting diffuse interests has long been recognized as a central challenge in any system of governance, and has proven problematic in the European Community (EC) as well. Indeed, a number of analysts have argued that the EC is a 'businessman's Europe', privileging concentrated and mobile capital over other interests and precipitating a deregulatory 'race to the bottom'. EC institutions, however, present opportunities as well as risks for diffuse interests such as environmentalists, consumers, and women. In particular, the institutions of the EC - characterized by both multiple tiers of government and by a separation of powers at the Community level - provide diffuse interests with multiple points of access, which they have used effectively to secure the adoption and the implementation of EC policies. These arguments are illustrated through a brief examination of EC policies in the areas of environmental protection, consumer protection, and women's rights.
Protecting diffuse interests has long been recognized as a central challenge in any system of governance, and has proven problematic in the European Community (EC) as well. Indeed, a number of analysts have argued that the EC is a 'businessman's Europe', privileging concentrated and mobile capital over other interests and precipitating a deregulatory 'race to the bottom'. EC institutions, however, present opportunities as well as risks for diffuse interests such as environmentalists, consumers, and women. In particular, the institutions of the EC - characterized by both multiple tiers of government and by a separation of powers at the Community level - provide diffuse interests with multiple points of access, which they have used effectively to secure the adoption and the implementation of EC policies. These arguments are illustrated through a brief examination of EC policies in the areas of environmental protection, consumer protection, and women's rights.
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