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Lobbying is an integral part of the political reality of the European Union and a highly competitive and dynamic field of interest groups. This book takes a systematic look at lobbyists in order to broaden our understanding of the staff entrusted with the responsibility of influencing European politics. Who are the European lobbyists? What are their professional backgrounds, career patterns, practices, and beliefs? The study uses a sociological framework to explore the professionalisation and professionalism of the field across national proveniences, policy fields and interest groups, and develops a systematic analysis that considers three different dimensions: occupational patterns, shared knowledge and common convictions. Based on original research that combines in- depth interviews with survey data, European Lobbying demonstrates that European lobbying is a firmly established and highly professionalised métier. In an organisational field characterised by growth, pluralisation and increasing competition, the professional staff contributes to the homogenisation of European lobbying and the marginalisation of other, non- professionalised forms of interest representation. It will therefore appeal to scholars and students of sociology and politics with interest in European studies, European Union politics and the sociology of the professions.

Der Ruf nach einer koordinierten Asylpolitik wird angesichts der ungleichen Bedingungen, die Geflüchtete vor und in Europa vorfinden, immer lauter. In diesem Sinne arbeitet die Europäische Union seit Jahren an einem »Gemeinsamen Europäischen Asylsystem«, das gerade auch das Verwaltungshandeln vor Ort verändern soll. Dieser Band stellt die Ergebnisse einer Forschungsstudie vor, die das praktische Arbeiten in deutschen und schwedischen Asylbehörden vergleichend untersucht. Im Fokus stehen der behördliche Umgang mit den Vorgaben der europäischen Asylpolitik, das Ausmaß einer Europäisierung des lokalen Verwaltungshandelns und die Schwierigkeiten einer grenzüberschreitenden Verwaltungskooperation.

This book unveils the significant impact of the European integration process on the political thinking of European citizens. With close attention to the interrelation between social and political divisions, it shows that an integrated Europe promotes consensus but also propagates growing dissent among its citizens, with both objective inequalities and the subjective perception of these inequalities fuelling political dissent. Based on original data sets developed from two EU-funded projects across eight and nine European countries, the volume demonstrates the important role played by the social structure of European social space in conditioning political attitudes and preferences. It shows, in particular, that Europeans are highly sensitive to unequal living conditions between European countries, thus affecting their political support of national politics and the European Union. As such, it will appeal to scholars of sociology and politics with interests in Europe and the European Union, European integration and political sociology.

This book examines the ‘European refugee crisis’, offering an in-depth comparative analysis of how public attitudes towards refugees and humanitarian dispositions are shaped by political news coverage. An international team of authors address the role of the media in contesting solidarity towards refugees from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. Focusing on the public sphere, the book follows the assumption that solidarity is a social value, political concept and legal principle that is discursively constructed in public contentions. The analysis refers systematically and comparatively to eight European countries, namely, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Treatment of data is also original in the way it deals with variations of public spheres by combining a news media claims-making analysis with a social media reception analysis. In particular, the book highlights the prominent role of the mass media in shaping national and transnational solidarity, while exploring the readiness of the mass media to extend thick conceptions of solidarity to non-members. It proposes a research design for the comparative analysis of online news reception and considers the innovative potential of this method in relation to established public opinion research. The book is of particular interest for scholars who are interested in the fields of European solidarity, migration and refugees, contentious politics, while providing an approach that talks to scholars of journalism and political communication studies, as well as digital journalism and online news reception.

The European Union started to coordinate and harmonise the asylum policies of their Member States in 1999 within a common ‘area of freedom, security and justice’, as stipulated by the Treaty of Amsterdam. However, the communitarisation of asylum policies by the EU has not met its main targets, despite the installation of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) and several attempts to implement and improve these regulations and directives by means of legislative reforms, political programmes and administrative initiatives. Today, we are still far from a European-wide asylum regime that implements harmonised procedures, and grants equivalent protection titles across all Member States (Council of the European Union, 2016a). National asylum systems and recognition rates continue to differ widely within the EU (AIDA, 2017; EASO, 2017a).

This open access collection is devoted to an in-depth, qualitative analysis of practices of cross-national solidarity in response to the current political and social crises, from citizens’ initiatives to networks of cooperation among civil society actors. The book analyses existing informal groups at the grassroots, furthering transnational solidarity in three thematic areas: disability, unemployment and immigration. Contributions assess how civic groups respond to the various crises affecting Europe, especially the economic and refugee crises, presenting new findings from a systematic comparative study conducted in eight European countries (Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Switzerland, and the UK). The research will be of interest to scholars, students, journalists, policy-makers and activists interested in civil society, social movements, charitable actions, altruism and solidarity, as well as European studies and the socio-economic challenges of current European crises.

solidarity in Europe; transnational solidarity; political sociology; citizen responses to crisis; asylum policies; refugee crisis; attitudes towards European Union

Wie gehen Verwaltungsbehörden mit den oftmals komplexen und eigensinnigen Geschichten von Flucht und Asyl um, wie wird daraus ein "Fall" und wie entsteht eine Entscheidung? Im Kontext europäischer Koordinierungsversuche sind solche Fragen nicht nur von wissenschaftlicher, sondern auch von gesellschaftlicher und politischer Relevanz. Dieser Band trägt zu einem besseren Verständnis der Strukturen und Veränderungen lokaler Verwaltungspraxis in einem hoch brisanten, umkämpften und folgenreichen Handlungsbereich bei. Er versammelt Beiträge, die sich aus soziologischer, sozialanthropologischer und politikwissenschaftlicher Perspektive mit behördlichem Handeln an unterschiedlichen Orten Europas befassen.

Summary: This book examines the 'European refugee crisis', offering an in-depth comparative analysis of how public attitudes towards refugees and humanitarian dispositions are shaped by political news coverage. An international team of authors address the role of the media in contesting solidarity towards refugees from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. Focusing on the public sphere, the book follows the assumption that solidarity is a social value, political concept and legal principle that is discursively constructed in public contentions. The analysis refers systematically and comparatively to eight European countries, namely, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Treatment of data is also original in the way it deals with variations of public spheres by combining a news media claims-making analysis with a social media reception analysis. In particular, the book highlights the prominent role of the mass media in shaping national and transnational solidarity, while exploring the readiness of the mass media to extend thick conceptions of solidarity to non-members. It proposes a research design for the comparative analysis of online news reception and considers the innovative potential of this method in relation to established public opinion research. The book is of particular interest for scholars who are interested in the fields of European solidarity, migration and refugees, contentious politics, while providing an approach that talks to scholars of journalism and political communication studies, as well as digital journalism and online news reception.