Rethinking Interest Representation in the European Union: Review of Law, Legitimacy and European Governance: Functional Participation in Social Regulation, by Stijn Smismans

Abstract

This article reviews the book, Law, Legitimacy, and European Governance: Functional Participation in Social Regulation, by Stijn Smismans. Law, Legitimacy, and European Governance is part of a movement to reinvent the Economic and Social Committee and the form of interest group politics that originated there — what Smismans calls “functional participation.” Smismans argues that functional participation can contribute to the legitimacy of the Economic and Social Committee and that the constitutional debates concerning the construction of a supranational European polity have largely neglected this European project.

The book assesses the full range of European bodies that were originally created to represent economic interests and that have since expanded to include other civil society actors. In doing so, the book reveals the potential of functional participation to a wide variety of audiences in the areas of political theory, political science, and law.

Keywords: interest representation, European Union, social regulation, Economic and Social Committee, Stijn Smismans, book review, civil society actors, European bodies, supranational European polity, European project, functional participation, EU law

JEL Classification: K33, K23