The activity of interest groups in the political process of the European Union has given rise to a broad debate concerning the effect on European democracy these groups have. As relatively powerful political actors, the question of these groups’ views on the EU and how the union should be is an important one. The status of these groups owns democratic representation also affects the democratic status of the EU. Being based on a number of theories, this study adopts an ideology analysis for the purpose of testing these theories on two cases – the Swedish environmental organizations World Wide Fund for Nature and The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation. This study conducts an investigation of these questions based on theories of interest group involvement in politics, aswell as the broader theories of pluralism and corporatism in a democratic political system. The question of representation is examined based on different perspectives and theories of representation, specifically on discursive representation which offers a view unlike the normal one of representing individuals or voters. The analysis shows varying support for the pluralist and corporatist view of politics, aswell as clear support for the discursive representation together with the more “traditional” view of representation.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:sh-15147 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Lithammer, Jesper |
| Publisher | Södertörns högskola, Institutionen för samhällsvetenskaper |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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