Citizen lobbying and policy change in Europe

ended

“Citizen lobbying and policy change in Europe” is a specialised teaching and research programme including workshops and training seminars on the specific field of interest group influence and citizen lobbying strategies in the EU. This programme will provide valuable normative and empirical inputs on specific aspects of European governance relating to the operation of interest groups in the EU. It aims to bring forward in a timely manner crucial issues concerning the interest groups’ competition in the European public policy space, influence and citizen lobbying strategies to agenda-setting and policy making process, advocacy alliances, transparency issues, and so on. The main objectives of the programme are 1) to familiarise students with the field of “interest politics” and the role of civil society in the EU policy process 2) to train undergraduate, post-graduate and doctoral students’ in the state-of-the art methodological approaches in the study of interest group behaviour and impacts in the context of the UE 3) to give civil society actors, policymakers and journalists the opportunity to learn about new lobbying practices and advocacy tools in an interactive fashion so that they can help contribute to raising public awareness on the importance of these issues for democracy. The programme includes a whole bunch of activities including a specialised teaching plan designed for master students, a range of workshops focused on epistemological and methodological issues, and a series of lectures where leading European scholars in the field will present key theoretical and practical insights to target audiences comprising civil society actors, grassroots or community-based organisations, journalists and professionals. This ensures that the programme is open to a diverse group of participants while fostering public dialogue.