The Open Method of Coordination on social inclusion : analysing the participation of British and Greek stakeholders and its impact on their expectations, political activities and loyalties

• Main Author: Ragkousis, Mihalis
• Other Authors: Wurzel, Rüdiger; Monaghan, Elizabeth
• Published: University of Hull 2012
• Subjects: 320; Politics
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.587008

This research focuses on the Open Method of Coordination (OMC) on social inclusion over a period of ten years. It analyses the participation of people who experience poverty and/or social exclusion and anti-poverty associations in the OMC. The main objective is to explore whether such participation triggers the redirection of participants’ expectations, political activities and loyalties from the national to the EU level. The research focuses on participation at domestic and EU level. It identifies the core responses (or non-responses) of British and Greek governmental and non-governmental actors to the EU pressures for participation. National responses to EU pressures help understand the participation of the above mentioned stakeholders in the domestic policy-making process. Additionally, by focusing on the participation of British and Greek delegates to the European Meetings of People Experiencing Poverty, this research seeks to understand whether participation through the OMC, at EU level, influences expectations, political activities and loyalties. The empirical findings of the research show that participation in the OMC indeed influences redirection of expectations, political activities and loyalties. However, the differences between the UK and Greece, and the differences between participation domestically and at EU level were found to be significant. This research contributes to existing theory by analysing the effects of participation of wider numbers of citizens in EU processes. It addresses the lack of empirical data regarding the participation of non-traditional stakeholders.