The International Journal
of Not-for-Profit Law

Volume 7, Issue 3, June 2005

By Carlo Ruzza
Manchester University Press / 272 pp. / $74.95
(Buy Now)

Reviewed by Joseph Proietti*

Europe and Civil Society provides an in-depth examination of how and why public interest associations and social movements seek to influence the policy-making process in the European Union. Carlo Ruzza, a sociologist at the University of Trento in Italy, stresses that the pro-business stance of many EU officials tends to shortchange the issues raised by public interest organizations, though a few groups have broken through to make significant impacts. The book investigates these issues by comparing how certain public interest groups in Brussels operate and how they have affected EU policy.

Ruzza examines the influence exerted by networks of activists and their allies – broadly defined as Movement Advocacy Coalitions – at the European Union in three areas of policy-making, within a framework of multi-level governance: environmentalism, anti-racism, and ethno-nationalist regionalism. He picks these movements because of their high visibility and their promotion of ideals generally shared among Western societies.

He persuasively argues that the coalitions with the most “staying power” are the ones with the ability to lobby at all stages of the policy-making process. Though he acknowledges that business can generally bring greater resources to bear in the lobbying process than under-funded public interest coalitions, he maintains that the coalitions’ quiet voices are substantially amplified by their credibility and legitimacy.

Ruzza artfully and intelligently examines the roles of public interest organizations through systematic documentary analysis and an extensive series of interviews with activists and institutional actors. His analysis of the environmental movement, relying on a series of case studies, is particularly effective in portraying the interaction between these groups and the political institutions in Brussels.

Overall, Europe and Civil Society presents a substantial body of research that sheds new light on political legitimacy, information, and how they shape the relationship between governments and civil society in Brussels.

Notes

* Joseph Proietti is a student editor of the International Journal of Not-for-Profit Law and a law student at the University of Baltimore.