2007: Women's NGOs in EU governance
2007: Gesine Fuchs, Silvia Payer: Women’s NGOs in EU governance. Problems of finance and access (with Silvia Payer), in: Obradovic, Daniela; Pleines, Heiko (eds): The capacity of Central and East European interest groups to participate in EU governance. (Changing Europe book series, vol. 2), Stuttgart: Ibidem Publishers, 163 – 181.
The EU has proven itself as a political opportunity structure in which women’s groups can affect national policy and place otherwise ignored issues on the agenda. In this context, the capacity of women’s organisations from the new member states is of vital importance. We examine their capacity to engage in EU governance, using the examples of Poland, Bulgaria and Slovakia. We identify main obstacles to this engagement, namely the lack of funding and access to decision-making processes and the lack of sufficient resources for institutional development. However, the development of Polish women’s NGOs shows that obstacles may be overcome.
2006 Case study: Polish non-governmental women’s organisations and the EU. – In: Pleines, Heiko (Hrsg.): Participation of civil society in new modes of governance. The case of the new EU member states. (Working Papers of the Research Centre for East European Studies Bremen No. 76), 54 – 65.