This paper offers an analytical framework in order to capture the various channels for the involvement of citizens in democratic systems. It introduces the notion of 'opportunity structures for ...citizens' participation' (OSCPs) and analyses seven dimensions of OSCPs. This analytical framework is then applied to the political system of the EU. The paper argues that a closer look at the EC institutions' work during the few years since the adoption of the Maastricht Treaty reveals an increased focus on citizens' involvement. However, as will be shown here, only indirect and non-binding, largely informal OSCPs have been implemented so far. With a view to the current Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) and democratic reforms even afterwards, the article concludes with some proposals for innovative OSCPs at the Euro-level.
In the European context Active citizenship has been promoted within the education and training Lisbon Strategy as a tool to support the continuation of democracy, human rights and greater social ...inclusion. In this article we analyse the impact of education on Active Citizenship and contribute to the existing debates relating to education levels and participation. Our results uniformly suggest that there is a significant democratic return associated with formal education. Indeed, using a large sample of individuals from the 2006/2007 European Social Survey, we find that education is positively and significantly correlated with Active Citizenship behaviour. Tertiary education has by far the biggest impact and this impact is the strongest for the domain of Protest. The findings are robust to the introduction of a large set of control variables and to alternative measures of educational attainment.
With the 1996-7 IGC and signing of the Amsterdam Treaty, immigration has moved towards the top of the EU policy agenda. This paper offers an overview of developments on immigration, asylum and ...citizenship. It goes on to develop a sociological approach to Europeanisation, which identifies the principle actors and organisations which constitute the emerging political field of immigration at the EU level. In particular, it discusses in detail the growing presence of NGOs in Brussels, and their strategies for influencing EU policy making. It also relates the success of these transnational organisations to other forms of transnational cooperation between networks of European police and security experts, and between region and city networks. To understand in sociological terms the specific forms of empowerment enabled to certain groups by European integration, it is necessary to show how successful actors in the European circles have created new forms of social and cultural capital beyond the nation state.
Przedstawiane prace są rozwinięciem referatów wygłoszonych w trakcie Ogólnokrajowej Konferencji Naukowej pt. Współczesne koncepcje ochrony wolności i praw podstawowych, odbywającej się w dniach 6–7 ...czerwca 2013 organizowanej wspólnie przez dwa uniwersytety (Uniwersytet Wrocławski i Uniwersytet Opolski), a także prac przekazanych przez jej uczestników
The presented works are a development of papers delivered during the National Scientific Conference on Contemporary concepts of protection of freedom and fundamental rights, held June 6-7, 2013, jointly organized by two universities (University of Wrocław and University of Opole), as well as works donated by its participants
