EU LOBBYING: A VIEW FROM THE US

Abstract

The complexities of multi-level advocacy within the EU create a number of challenges and opportunities for research. Here I focus on three issues: Advocacy, venues, and framing. Scholars investigating lobbying in the EU have made great strides and are now fully integrated into an international community of scholarship, more so than in previous decades. Being clear about the wide range of actors, including government officials, who may play the role of advocates, understanding the complexities of the various venues of policy-making within the EU, and studying framing processes systematically are important challenges as the literature continues to move forward.

Keywords:

• European Union
• framing
• interest groups
• issue-definition
• lobbying
• policy processes
• venue shopping

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My former student, Christine Mahoney, has taught me a lot about EU lobbying.