Opening the Black Box of Participation in the Institutional Practice of European Agencies

Abstract

Participation has become a pervasive feature of agencies and the way in which they conduct their work. This prompts several questions: Why should one care? Why is participation in European agencies relevant? What purpose does it intend to accomplish? Considering the specific characteristics of participation in European agencies, such as formalization of participatory arrangements and different functions, the inquiry into participation cannot be decoupled from the real world of agencies. This work proposes a conceptual framework for researching participation in European agencies, and on the basis of empirical evidence investigates the purpose of different forms of participation existing in European agencies.

Keywords: European agencies, interested parties, participation, promises