DAFF 25A76 - Business Power and Lobbying in the EU
DAFF 25A76 · Fall semester 2026-2027
- Language of tuition
- English
- Course type
- Cours séminaire
- Number of hours
- 24
- Credits
- 5
Information
Description
The class aims to provide students with the necessary theoretical and analytical tools to
reconstruct and assess interest groups' roles, resources, action strategies, and influence capacity
in EU policymaking, with a focus on business groups. This will be done through an in-depth focus
on the factors, institutional venues, processes and dynamics specifically shaping business
interests’ lobbying and influence in the EU. The concepts and approaches presented during the
course will be applied to a set of relevant policy case studies, so as to analyze and learn how
lobbying concretely works and when it proves to be successful. Thus, the class mixes the theory
and practice of corporate lobbying in the EU, providing students with a comprehensive preparation
on the subject.
At the end of teaching, the students will be able to:
- reconstruct and analyze interest groups’ role, strategies of action, and influence on the EU
policy processes
- master the key concepts in the analysis of business power and lobbying, such as “structural
power”, “instrumental power”, “inside/outside” lobbying, “coalitions”, “salience”, and
“politicization”.
- understand the ways in which EU policymakers and interest groups interact in the setting,
formulation, and implementation of the EU policies.
- have a deeper knowledge of the EU decision-making process, its actors, and
characteristics, in order to critically assess their quality.
- understand and implement the main methodological approaches in the analysis of interest
groups’ lobbying, with a focus on qualitative methods.
Prerequisites
Prior basic knowledge of the European Union institutions is recommended. There are no
mandatory preliminary readings
Teaching format
Lectures, group activities in the classroom and seminars
Assessment
- Student engagement during the semester (participation in class discussions during the
class, ability to ask questions, and class citizenship etc.) 20%
Readings
Main readings 5
-
Coen, D. (2009). Business lobbying in the European Union, in D. Coen and J. Richardson (eds.), Lobbying the European Union: Institutions, actors and issues, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 145-168.
-
Coen, D., Katsaitis, A., & Vannoni, M. (2021). Business lobbying in the European Union. Oxford : Oxford University Press, Chapters 4-6
-
Greenwood, J. (2017). Interest Representation in the European Union. London : Bloomsbury Publishing. Chapters 2 and 4.
-
Van Apeldoorn, B. (2001). “The struggle over European order: Transnational class agency in the making of ‘embedded neo-liberalism’”. In A. Bieler, A. D. Morton (eds.) Social forces in the making of the New Europe: The restructuring of European social relations in the global political economy (pp. 70-89). London: Palgrave Macmillan UK
-
Van Schendelen, R. (2013). The art of lobbying the EU: More Machiavelli in Brussels. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press (Fourth edition), Chapters 1-3
Further readings 13
-
Baumgartner, F. R. (2007). EU Lobbying: A view from the US. Journal of European Public Policy, 14(3), 482-488
-
Bell, S. (2012). The power of ideas: The ideational shaping of the structural power of business. International Studies Quarterly, 56(4), 661-673.
-
Berkhout, J. (2013). Why interest organizations do what they do: Assessing the explanatory potential of “exchange” approaches. Interest Groups & Advocacy, 2, 227-250.
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Bernhagen, P., & Bräuninger, T. (2005). Structural power and public policy: A signaling model of business lobbying in democratic capitalism. Political studies, 53(1), 43-64.
-
Beyers, J., Dür, A., & Wonka, A. (2018). The political salience of EU policies. Journal of European Public Policy, 25(11), 1726-1737.
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Bouwen, P. (2004). Exchanging access goods for access: A comparative study of business lobbying in the European Union institutions. European Journal of Political Research, 43(3), 337-369
-
Bowman, J. R. (1982). The Logic of Capitalist Collective Action. Social Science Information, 21(4–5), 571–560.
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Bunea, A. (2018). Legitimacy through targeted transparency? Regulatory effectiveness and sustainability of lobbying regulation in the European Union. European Journal of Political Research, 57(2), 378-403
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Bunea, A., & Ibenskas, R. (2015). Quantitative text analysis and the study of EU lobbying and interest groups. European Union Politics, 16(3), 429-455.
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Chari, R., Hogan, J., Murphy, G., & Crepaz, M. (2020). Regulating lobbying: a global comparison. In Regulating lobbying (second edition). Manchester University Press.
-
Coen, D., Katsaitis, A., & Vannoni, M. (2021). Business lobbying in the European Union. Oxford University Press.
-
Cowles, M.G. (2002). Large Firms and the Transformation of EU Business Associations: a Historical Perspective. In: Greenwood, J. (eds) The Effectiveness of EU Business Associations. Palgrave Macmillan, London.
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Culpepper, P. D. (2015). Structural power and political science in the post-crisis era. Business and Politics, 17(3), 391-409
Teaching units
| Unit no. | Unit type | Teaching units | Teachers | Number of hours | Credits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20166 | Cours séminaire | Business Power and Lobbying in the EU | Giuseppe MONTALBANO | 24 | 5 |
Teachers
- Giuseppe MONTALBANO
In the curricula
- Bachelor Exchange Programme, Seminars / Bachelor, Programme d'échange, séminaires - 26/27COLLÈGE UNIVERSITAIRE - CAMPUS PARIS
- Bachelor, semestre 3 : cours séminaires - 26/27COLLÈGE UNIVERSITAIRE - CAMPUS PARIS
Contacts and resources
- Contact
- NICOULEAU Svetlana