The study material includes materials developed at the international conference on interest groups research in Central and Eastern Europe. The research group together with established researchers: Terry Cox, Zdenka Mansfeldova, Petra R. Guasti in Gallai Sandor discussed about position of civil society in this part of Europe, explored the possibilities of comparative research on interest groups in Slovenia, Hungary and the Czech Republic, explored possibilities of using already existed data for comparative analysis and developed a first draft of interview guide for comparative research. At the same time, the participants of the workshop were looking for opportunities for further cooperation and possibilities for joint publication.
F.30 Professional assessment of the situation
COBISS.SI-ID: 31937629In January 2013 research group organised a stakeholder meeting with the most active interest groups in Slovenia. Researchers presented preliminary survey results and confronted them with opinions and view of the most active interest groups which helped us verify the research results. In December 2013 research group INTEREURO in collaboration with project Jean Monnet Chair(lead by dr. Damjan Lajh) organised also a professional consultation on Coordination of EU affairs and role of officials, civil society, interest groups and experts on forming national position on EU legislations. Consultation was attended by executive officials, legislative officials, civil society representatives and organised interest. Participants discussed about coordination of EU affairs and formation of national position (COBISS ID- 32520957), tendencies to the dominance of the executive power in processes of making common European politics (COBISS ID- 32421469) and presented preliminary results of empirical survey on forming national position on European legislative proposals (COBISS ID- 32421213).
F.30 Professional assessment of the situation
COBISS.SI-ID: 31844957Paper contributes to the literature on the impact of Europeanization on national interest groups in general and in a post-communist context in particular. An analysis of the data from two surveys of Slovenia's interest groups in eleven policy fields, conducted in 1996 and in 2012, offers an insight into 1) the dynamics of interest-group types, and 2) the interrelation of Europeanization and the typology of interest groups based on the characteristics of interest-group activities. The key findings are that, although the number of types of interest groups has remained the same, these different types have internally changed and are more diversified in 2012. Overall during the 16-year period, the interest groups involved in the panel survey became more active, and the extent of their Europeanization goes some way to explaining the differences between the clusters of the most and the least active interest groups. Although there may be clear domestic reasons why interest-group activity evolves over time in the national milieu, it is important to understand (particularly for the post-communist context) that interest groups' EU linkages do make a difference to the national interest group politics.
F.30 Professional assessment of the situation
COBISS.SI-ID: 32420701