IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/eeupol/v25y2024i1p130-150.html

Does policy context matter for citizen engagement in policymaking? Evidence from the European Commission's public consultation regime

Author

Listed:
  • Idunn Nørbech

Abstract

The European Commission has shown efforts to strengthen citizens’ participation in its policy formulation processes through public consultation opportunities. However, we currently lack a systematic analysis of the factors that drive citizens’ participation in the formulation stages of supranational policymaking. This study provides important insights into this research gap and considers whether and how policy context matters for the levels of citizen engagement in the European Commission's open consultation opportunities based on the associated costs and benefits of participation. The analysis shows an increase in citizen activity for public consultation opportunities associated with initiatives in the pre-formulation stage of policymaking and for public consultation opportunities associated with less complex consultation documents.

Suggested Citation

  • Idunn Nørbech, 2024. "Does policy context matter for citizen engagement in policymaking? Evidence from the European Commission's public consultation regime," European Union Politics, , vol. 25(1), pages 130-150, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:eeupol:v:25:y:2024:i:1:p:130-150
    DOI: 10.1177/14651165231208995
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/14651165231208995
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/14651165231208995?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Frederik Stevens & Iskander De Bruycker, 2020. "Influence, affluence and media salience: Economic resources and lobbying influence in the European Union," European Union Politics, , vol. 21(4), pages 728-750, December.
    2. Adriana Bunea, 2014. "Explaining Interest Groups' Articulation of Policy Preferences in the European Commission's Open Consultations: An Analysis of the Environmental Policy Area," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(6), pages 1224-1241, November.
    3. Maria Paola Ferretti & Matteo Lener, 2008. "Lay Public or Experts? e‐Participation in Authorization for GMO Products in the European Union," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 25(6), pages 507-525, December.
    4. Coglianese, Cary, 2006. "Citizen Participation in Rulemaking: Past, Present, and Future," Working Paper Series rwp06-027, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    5. Gerber, Alan S. & Green, Donald P. & Larimer, Christopher W., 2008. "Social Pressure and Voter Turnout: Evidence from a Large-Scale Field Experiment," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 102(1), pages 33-48, February.
    6. Maiken Røed & Vibeke Wøien Hansen, 2018. "Explaining Participation Bias in the European Commission's Online Consultations: The Struggle for Policy Gain without too Much Pain," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(6), pages 1446-1461, September.
    7. Messer, Anne & Berkhout, Joost & Lowery, David, 2011. "The Density of the EU Interest System: A Test of the ESA Model," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 41(1), pages 161-190, January.
    8. Christine Quittkat, 2011. "The European Commission's Online Consultations: A Success Story?," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(3), pages 653-674, May.
    9. Rauh, Christian, 2022. "Clear messages to the European public? The language of European Commission press releases 1985–2020," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue Latest Ar, pages 1-19.
    10. Adam W. Chalmers, 2020. "Unity and conflict: Explaining financial industry lobbying success in European Union public consultations," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 14(3), pages 391-408, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Adriana Bunea & Sergiu Lipcean, 2024. "Understanding patterns of stakeholder participation in public commenting on bureaucratic policymaking: Evidence from the European Union," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(3), pages 874-895, July.
    2. Matti Van Hecke & Peter Bursens & Jan Beyers, 2016. "You'll Never Lobby Alone. Explaining the Participation of Sub-national Authorities in the European Commission's Open Consultations," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(6), pages 1433-1448, November.
    3. Adriana Bunea, 2015. "Sharing ties and preferences: Stakeholders’ position alignments in the European Commission’s open consultations," European Union Politics, , vol. 16(2), pages 281-299, June.
    4. Bert Fraussen & Adrià Albareda & Caelesta Braun, 2020. "Conceptualizing consultation approaches: identifying combinations of consultation tools and analyzing their implications for stakeholder diversity," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 53(3), pages 473-493, September.
    5. Mehmet Maksud Onal & John K. Ashton, 2021. "Is the Journey more Important than the Destination? EU Accession and Corporate Governance and Performance of Banks," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(6), pages 1516-1535, November.
    6. Cantoni, Enrico & Gazzè, Ludovica & Schafer, Jerome, 2021. "Turnout in concurrent elections: Evidence from two quasi-experiments in Italy," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    7. Jöst, Prisca & Lust, Ellen, 2025. "Local context and mobilization in poor communities: Lessons from Kenya, Malawi and Zambia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    8. León, Gianmarco, 2017. "Turnout, political preferences and information: Experimental evidence from Peru," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 56-71.
    9. Grácio, Matilde & Vicente, Pedro C., 2021. "Information, get-out-the-vote messages, and peer influence: Causal effects on political behavior in Mozambique," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    10. Francisco Jiménez Alcarria & Jorge Tuñón Navarro, 2024. "Stakeholders and impact (engagement) in EU digital communication strategies during the COVID-19 vaccination campaign," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-11, December.
    11. Mitchell Hoffman & Gianmarco Leon, 2011. "Social Networks and Voting," Working Papers 11-08, NET Institute, revised Nov 2011.
    12. Emilio Gutierrez & Marco Torres, 2025. "Beliefs About Sexual Orientation and the Adoption of Inclusive Language," Journal of Economics, Race, and Policy, Springer, vol. 8(2), pages 179-186, June.
    13. Finan, Frederico & Seira, Enrique & Simpser, Alberto, 2021. "Voting with one’s neighbors: Evidence from migration within Mexico," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).
    14. Eiji Yamamura & Yoshiro Tsutsui & Fumio Ohtake, 2026. "Would monetary incentives to COVID-19 vaccination reduce motivation?," The Japanese Economic Review, Springer, vol. 77(1), pages 15-44, January.
    15. Bamieh, Omar & Cintolesi, Andrea, 2021. "Intergenerational transmission in regulated professions and the role of familism," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 192(C), pages 857-879.
    16. Anya Samek & Roman M. Sheremeta, 2017. "Selective Recognition: How to Recognize Donors to Increase Charitable Giving," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 55(3), pages 1489-1496, July.
    17. Anya Savikhin & Roman Sheremeta, 2010. "Visibility of Contributions and Cost of Information: An Experiment on Public Goods," Working Papers 10-22, Chapman University, Economic Science Institute.
    18. Yoichi Hizen & Kengo Kurosaka, 2021. "Monetary Costs Versus Opportunity Costs in a Voting Experiment," Working Papers SDES-2021-1, Kochi University of Technology, School of Economics and Management, revised Feb 2021.
    19. Patricia Funk, 2012. "How accurate are surveyed preferences for public policies? Evidence from a unique institutional setup," Economics Working Papers 1334, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, revised Nov 2013.
    20. Agnieszka Vetulani-Cęgiel, 2020. "(Nad)reprezentacja interesów w procesie kształtowania polityki publicznej na przykładzie obszaru prawno-autorskiego w Polsce," Studia z Polityki Publicznej / Public Policy Studies, Warsaw School of Economics, vol. 7(2), pages 1-22.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:eeupol:v:25:y:2024:i:1:p:130-150. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.