ABSTRACT

This book provides a critical analysis of the European Union’s approach to ‘governance’, focusing on the way in which civil society is incorporated within the EU decision-making process and arguing that it is not conducive to the democratisation of EU governance.

Using a governmentality approach, Kutay demonstrates that civic actors are not incorporated into EU decision-making processes as they are; rather, they are formed, manipulated and guided by political programming. The author explains how this acts to prescribe and construct particular types of subjectivities, thereby limiting and constraining the types of participation that might emerge as part of European civil society and the process of political participation.

Governance and European Civil Society will be of interest to students and scholars of European Union politics, global governance, civil society and democracy, Central and East European studies and political and international theory.

chapter |16 pages

Introduction

chapter |28 pages

Theoretical perspective

Governmentality and discursive formation of European civil society

chapter |14 pages

Civil society participation in governance

A global project?

chapter |59 pages

A case study on the Social Platform

A performing agent of European civil society

chapter |17 pages

Conducting a European civil society agency

Embedding neoliberal governance through managerial subjects