Network of Excellence on "Efficient and Democratic Governance in a Multi-level Europe" (CONNEX)

Research question/goal: 

CONNEX pursued three tasks:

  1. Taking stock of research on EU governance. The data from a survey covering all and countries in the wider Europe are accessible online at GOVDATA (about 1.600 individual research projects; govdata). A comparative evaluation of the state of the art will be published with Edward Elgar 2009. GOVDATA has been complemented by a bibliographic database GOVLIT with more than 2.500 entries (govlit/).
  2. Integrating and initiating research on core issues concerning efficient and democratic EU governance. Research collaboration was organised in six Research Groups coordinated at Mannheim, Dublin, Ljubljana, Oslo, Paris, and Utrecht. Colleagues from Mannheim have been active participants in all six Research Groups. At Mannheim Beate Kohler-Koch coordinated research on interest representation and civil society involvement with special emphasize on influence and democratic legitimacy. Research findings were discussed in numerous workshops and conferences and published in special issues, edited volumes, and as individual contributions in peer reviewed journals. In addition, the CONNEX Report Series (9 volumes) presents core findings of the Research Groups and Thematic Conferences dedicated to cross cutting questions.
  3. Disseminating research results and training young scholars. Apart from a well managed web-site (ranged among the top by IPSA) and a regular Newsletter, CONNEX has initiated an online working paper series EUROGOV – European Governance Papers and the Living Reviews in European Governance (LREG), both peer reviewed. EUROGOV will come to a close with the end of CONNEX, whereas the Living Reviews will be continued. CONNEX took great efforts to integrate young scholars into on-going research and, in addition, offered special seminars, summer schools, and expert supervision in international thematic oriented PhD networks.

Comprehensive information on activities and publications were available under connex-network.org. This page does not exist any longer. Some pages still can be found on the MZES pages (see "Links" in the right column).

Fact sheet

Funding: 
EU
Duration: 
2004 to 2008
Status: 
completed
Geographic Space: 
Europe

Publications

Books

Kohler-Koch, Beate, and Fabrice Larat (Eds.) (2009): European Multi-Level Governance. Contrasting Images in National Research. Cheltenham, UK Northampton, MA, USA: Edward Elgar. more
Kohler-Koch, Beate, Dirk De Bièvre and William A. Maloney (Eds.) (2008): Opening EU-Governance to Civil Society. Mannheim. [CONNEX Report Series; 5] more
Jobert, Bruno, and Beate Kohler-Koch (Eds.) (2008): Changing Images of Civil Society: From Protest to Governance. London: Routledge. [Routledge studies in governance and public policy; 11] more
Kohler-Koch, Beate, and Fabrice Larat (Eds.) (2008): Efficient and Democratic Governance in the European Union. Mannheim. [CONNEX Report Series; 9] more
van der Eijk, Cees, and Hermann Schmitt (Eds.) (2008): The Multilevel Electoral System of the EU. Mannheim. [CONNEX Report Series; 4] more
de Vreese, Claes, and Hermann Schmitt (Eds.) (2007): A European Public Sphere. How much of it do we have, and how much do we need?. Mannheim: MZES. [CONNEX Report Series; 2] more
Kohler-Koch, Beate, and Berthold Rittberger (Eds.) (2007): Debating the Democratic Legitimacy of the European Union. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. more
Marsh, Michael, Slava Mikhaylov and Hermann Schmitt (Eds.) (2007): European Elections after Eastern Enlargement. Preliminary Results from the European Election Study 2004. Mannheim. [CONNEX Report Series; 1] more
Knodt, Michèle, and Barbara Finke (Eds.) (2005): Europäische Zivilgesellschaft. Konzepte, Akteure, Strategien. Opladen: Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. more

Journal Articles

Kohler-Koch, Beate (2010): Models and the reality of European regional policy. Eurasian Law Journal, 10, issue 29, pp. 12-18. more
van Deth, Jan W. (2009): The 'Good European Citizen' Congruence and Consequences of Different Points of View. European Political Science, 8, issue 2, pp. 175–189. more
Kohler-Koch, Beate (2008): Civil society in EU governance – A remedy to the democratic accountability deficit?. Concepts & Methods, 4, issue 1, pp. 3-6. more
Kohler-Koch, Beate, and Barbara Finke (2007): The Institutional Shaping of EU-Society Relations: A Contribution to Democracy via Participation?. Journal of Civil Society, 3, issue 3, pp. 205-221. more
Hüller, Thorsten (2007): Assessing EU strategies for publicity. Journal of European Public Policy, 14, issue 4, pp. 563-581. more
Kohler-Koch, Beate, and Berthold Rittberger (2006): Review Article: The "Governance Turn" in EU Studies. Journal of Common Market Studies, 44, issue 1, pp. 27-49. more
Larat, Fabrice (2005): CONNEX - ein Exzellenznetzwerk zum "Regieren im europäischen Mehrebenensystem". Integration, 28, issue 2, pp. 179-182. more

Book Chapters

Jachtenfuchs, Markus, and Beate Kohler-Koch (2010): Kapitel 4: Governance in der Europäischen Union. Pp. 77-101 in: Arthur Benz, Nicolai Dose (Eds.) Governance – Regieren in komplexen Regelsystemen. Eine Einführung. 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. more
Kohler-Koch, Beate, and Berthold Rittberger (2009): A Futile Quest for Coherence: The Many Frames of EU Governance. Pp. 3-18 in: Beate Kohler-Koch, Fabrice Larat (Eds.) European Multi-Level Governance. Contrasting Images in National Research. Cheltenham, UK Nortampton, MA, USA: Edward Elgar. more
Kohler-Koch, Beate (2009): German Governance Research: Advanced but Monodisciplinary. Pp. 61-82 in: Beate Kohler-Koch, Fabrice Larat (Eds.) European Multi-Level Governance. Contrasting Images in National Research. Cheltenham, UK Northampton, MA, USA: Edward Elgar. more
Kohler-Koch, Beate, and Fabrice Larat (2009): Introduction: Research on EU Multi-Level Governance. Pp. xix-xxviii in: Beate Kohler-Koch, Fabrice Larat (Eds.) European Multi-Level Governance. Contrasting Images in National Research. Cheltenham, UK Northampton, MA, USA: Edward Elgar. more
De Bièvre, Dirk (2008): Assessing Interest Group Politics in EU Governance. Pp. 1-8 in: Beate Kohler-Koch, Dirk De Bièvre, William A. Maloney (Eds.) Opening EU-Governance to Civil Society - Gains and Challenges. Mannheim. more
Hüller, Thorsten, and Beate Kohler-Koch (2008): Assessing the Democratic Value of Civil Society Engagement in the European Union. Pp. 145-181 in: Beate Kohler-Koch, Dirk De Bièvre, William A. Maloney (Eds.) Opening EU-Governance to Civil Society. Gains and Challenges. Mannheim. more
Kohler-Koch, Beate (2008): Civil Society Contribution to Democratic Governance: A Critical Assessment. Pp. 9-17 in: Beate Kohler-Koch, Dirk De Bièvre, William A. Maloney (Eds.) Opening EU-Governance to Civil Society. Gains and Challenges. Mannheim: CONNEX. more
van Deth, Jan W. (2008): European Civil Society: The Empirical Reality in the Multi-Level System of the EU. Pp. 326-348 in: Beate Kohler-Koch, Dirk De Bièvre, William A. Maloney (Eds.) Opening EU-Governance to Civil Society - Gains and Challenges. Mannheim. more
Maloney, William A., and Jan W. van Deth (2008): Is Local Civil Society Conducive to European Participatory Engineering?. Pp. 239-257 in: Beate Kohler-Koch, Dirk De Bièvre, William A. Maloney (Eds.) Opening EU-Governance to Civil Society - Gains and Challenges. Mannheim. more
Zittel, Thomas (2008): Participatory Engineering: Promises and Pitfalls. Pp. 119-144 in: Beate Kohler-Koch, Dirk De Bièvre, William A. Maloney (Eds.) Opening EU-Governance to Civil Society - Gains and Challenges. Mannheim. more
Edler-Wollstein, Stefanie, and Beate Kohler-Koch (2008): It’s about participation, stupid. Is it? – Civil Society Concepts in Comparative Perspective. Pp. 195-214 in: Bruno Jobert, Beate Kohler-Koch (Eds.) Changing Images of Civil Society: From Protest to Governance. London: Routledge. more
Gschwend, Thomas (2008): Studying Contamination Effects in Multi-Level Systems of Governance: First Thoughts about Hypotheses and Research Design. Pp. 229-240 in: Hermann Schmitt (Ed.) The Multilevel Electoral System of the EU. Mannheim. more
Kohler-Koch, Beate (2008): Die Europäisierung der politikwissenschaftlichen Europaforschung. Pp. 17-43 in: Friedrich Jaeger, Hans Joas (Eds.) Europa im Spiegel der Kulturwissenschaften. Baden-Baden: Nomos. more
Jobert, Bruno, and Beate Kohler-Koch (2008): Preface. Pp. xi-xiv in: Bruno Jobert, Beate Kohler-Koch (Eds.) Changing Images of Civil Society: From Protest to Governance. London: Routledge. more
Kohler-Koch, Beate (2008): Does Participatory Governance Hold its Promises?. Pp. 265-295 in: Beate Kohler-Koch, Fabrice Larat (Eds.) Efficient and Democratic Governance in the European Union. Mannheim. more
Kohler-Koch, Beate, and Fabrice Larat (2008): Introduction. Pp. 1-10 in: Beate Kohler-Koch, Fabrice Larat (Eds.) Efficient and Democratic Governance in the European Union. Mannheim. more
Kohler-Koch, Beate (2008): New Modes and New Promises of EU Governance. Pp. 104-122 in: Ulf Sverdrup, Jarle Trondal (Eds.) The Organizational Dimension of Politics. Bergen: Fagbokforlaget Vigmostad & Bjørke AS. more
Kohler-Koch, Beate (2008): The Richness of CONNEX Research In a Nutshell. Pp. 11-56 in: Beate Kohler-Koch, Fabrice Larat (Eds.) Efficient and Democratic Governance in the European Union. Mannheim. more
Kohler-Koch, Beate, and Berthold Rittberger (2007): Charting Crowded Territory: Debating the Democratic Legitimacy of the European Union. Pp. 1-29 in: Beate Kohler-Koch, Berthold Rittberger (Eds.) Debating the Democratic Legitimacy of the European Union. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. more
Rittberger, Berthold (2007): Constructing Parliamentary Democracy in the European Union: How Did It Happen?. Pp. 111-137 in: Beate Kohler-Koch, Berthold Rittberger (Eds.) Debating the Democratic Legitimacy of the European Union. Lanham: Rowman&Littlefield. more
Kohler-Koch, Beate (2007): The Organization of Interests and Democracy in the European Union. Pp. 255-271 in: Beate Kohler-Koch, Berthold Rittberger (Eds.) Debating the Democratic Legitimacy of the European Union. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. more
Wüst, Andreas M., and Hermann Schmitt (2007): Comparing the views of parties and voters in the 1999 election to the European Parliament. Pp. 73-93 in: Wouter van der Brug, Cees van der Eijk (Eds.) European Elections & Domestic Politics. Lessons from the past and scenarios for the future. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press. more
Kohler-Koch, Beate (2006): European governance and system integration. Pp. 91-106 in: Erik Oddvar Eriksen, Christian Joerges, Florian Rödl (Eds.) Law and Democracy in the Post-National Union. Oslo: Arena Centre for European Studies. more
Finke, Barbara, and Michèle Knodt (2005): Einleitung: Zivilgesellschaft und zivilgesellschaftliche Akteure in der Europäischen Union. Pp. 11-28 in: Michèle Knodt, Barbara Finke (Eds.) Europäische Zivilgesellschaft. Konzepte, Akteure, Strategien. Wiesbaden: Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. more
Knodt, Michèle (2005): Zivilgesellschaftliche Einbindung im Handelsbereich: Der Einfluss der WTO auf die Europäische Kommission. Pp. 223-247 in: Michèle Knodt, Barbara Finke (Eds.) Europäisierung der Zivilgesellschaft. Konzepte, Akteure, Strategien. Wiesbaden: Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. more

Other Publications

Kohler-Koch, Beate (2008): Representation, representativeness, and accountability in EU-civil society relations. more
Kohler-Koch, Beate (2007): Political Representation and Civil Society in the EU. Florence more
Larat, Fabrice (2007): Presentation of the CONNEX Database GOVDATA. Paris, France more
Kohler-Koch, Beate, Christoph Humrich and Barbara Finke (2006): Enhancing Multi-level Democracy by Organizing Civil Society. more
Hüller, Thorsten (2006): Demokratisierung der EU durch bürgerschaftliche und zivilgesellschaftliche Partizipation?. Münster more
Quittkat, Christine (2006): The DemoCiv database: Consultation, Participation, and Representation in DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities. more

Conference Presentations

Kohler-Koch, Beate (2009): Lessons of the past – for the research of the future - Beiträge aus dem deutschen Wissenschaftsdiskurs. [Expertentagung– 50 Jahre Integrationsforschung, Institut für Europäische Politik, Berlin, October 01st to October 02nd, 2009] more
Kohler-Koch, Beate (2009): The EU as a cosmopolitan order: A critical assessment. [RECON Midterm Conference, Prague, October 09th, 2009] more
Kohler-Koch, Beate (2008): Civil Society in EU governance: Towards a more efficient and democratic Union?. [Manchester Jean Monet Centre of Excellence Annual Lecture, University of Manchester, May 21st, 2008] more
Kohler-Koch, Beate (2008): Is the EU still unique?. [The Transformation of EU Policies? EU Governance at Work, Paris, January 17th to January 18th, 2008] more
Kohler-Koch, Beate (2008): Regieren im Mehrebenensystem. Mehr Einfluss, weniger Verantwortung?. [CGG Lecture Series, Hamburg, January 30th, 2008] more
Kohler-Koch, Beate (2008): The legitimacy of the EU as a foreign policy actor. [Global Governance: Challenges for Multilateralism and the European Union, Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, November 26th to November 27th, 2008] more
Larat, Fabrice (2008): Opening the black box: Reflexions on the nature and function of research integration. ["How does research integration work?", Brussels, June 17th, 2008] more
Larat, Fabrice (2008): Round table "Gains and disadvantages of large research projects/ EU research policy and the experience of NEWGOV and CONNEX". [CONNEX/NEWGOV Dissemination Conference "EU Governance: Are we on the right track?", European Commission, Brussels, April 10th, 2008] more
Wonka, Arndt (2008): Issue characteristics, quality of mobilization and influence of interest groups in EU decision-making. [CONNEX Final Conference, Universität Mannheim, March 06th to March 08th, 2008] more
Kohler-Koch, Beate, and Thorsten Hüller (2007): Assessing the Democratic Value of Civil Society Engagement in the European Union. [CONNEX Wrapping-Up Conference "Opening EU Governance to Civil Society - Gains and Challenges", Piran, October 25th to October 27th, 2007] more
Kohler-Koch, Beate (2007): The Different Layers of Accountability in EU Civil Relations. [CONNEX Thematic Conference on Accountability, Florence, June 29th to June 30th, 2007] more
Rittberger, Berthold (2007): EU Governance in Relation to Global Governance. [CASS Workshop Peking, EU Governance at Work, Peking, June 14th to June 16th, 2007] more
Rittberger, Berthold (2007): The EU, still a civilian power?. [CASS Conference Beijing, EU Model under Discussion, Peking, June 12th to June 14th, 2007] more
Rittberger, Berthold (2007): The historical trajectory of representation in the European Union. [Connex Thematic Conference on Accountability, Florenz, June 29th to June 30th, 2007] more
van Deth, Jan W. (2007): CONNEX Wrapping-Up Conference "Is Local Civil Society Conducive to European Participatory Engineering?". [Opening EU Governance to Civil Society - Gains and Challenges, Piran, October 25th to October 27th, 2007] more
van Deth, Jan W. (2007): The associational impact on political interest in Europe. [From National toward International Linkages? Civil Society and Multi-level Governance, Middelburg, May 03rd to May 04th, 2007] more
van Deth, Jan W. (2007): The associational impact on political interest in Europe. [From National toward International linkages? Civil Society and Multilevel Governance, Darmstadt, November 15th to November 17th, 2007] more
Wonka, Arndt (2007): Issue characteristics, quality of mobilization and influence of interest groups in EU decision-making. [Connex-Workshop on interest group influence, Universiteit Antwerpen, Department of Political Science, September 20th to September 21st, 2007] more
Larat, Fabrice (2006): Presentation of CONNEX Database GOVDATA. [IPSA World Congress, Fukuoka, July 10th to July 13th, 2006] more
Larat, Fabrice (2006): Presentation of CONNEX Database GOVDATA. [ECPR - Standing Group in the European Union, Third Pan-European Conference on the EU Politics, Istanbul, September 21st to September 23rd, 2006] more
Larat, Fabrice (2006): Trends in EU Governance Research. [NIG/CONNEX Research Colloquium: Democracy and the European Union, University of Maastricht, October 18th to October 20th, 2006] more
Dür, Andreas (2005): Interest Group Power in the EU: Access, Influence and Resources. [The State of the Art in EU Interest Representation, Leiden, April 14th to April 16th, 2005] more
Kohler-Koch, Beate (2005): Dominant trends and changing patterns in EU interest intermediation. [CONNEX User Workshop: 'Managing Interest Representation in the EU', Vilnius, May 13th to May 15th, 2005] more
Kohler-Koch, Beate (2005): Integrating Research on Efficient and Democratic Governance in a Multi-Level Europe. [New Modes of Governance, Steering Committe, Florence, EUI/RSC, January 17th, 2005] more
Kohler-Koch, Beate (2005): Multilevel Governance in Europe: Discourse is power. [Thematic Stocktaking Conference on Multilevel Government in Europe, Athens, May 05th to May 07th, 2005] more
Kohler-Koch, Beate (2005): Section 18 'Efficient and Democratic European Governance: Dynamics and Obstacles'; Panel 4 'The Institutional Shaping of EU-Society Relations: the Role of the European Comission'; presentation on 'Organisation of Interest and Democracy in the EU'. [Third ECPR Conference, Budapest, September 08th to September 10th, 2005] more
Larat, Fabrice (2005): CONNEX: Efficient and Democratic Governance in a Multi-Level Europe. [Humanities & Social Sciences Research Forum: Diverse Dialogues across Europe, Nicosia, January 27th to January 28th, 2005] more
Larat, Fabrice (2005): CONNEX: Efficient and democratic governance int he EU. [Italian-German Expert Meeting on FP6 Project management & FP7 perspectives, Villa Vigoni, Como, June 09th, 2005] more
Larat, Fabrice (2005): Squarring the circle : New FP6 instruments as a Challenge for the Research Community. [Towards a European research Area, Research Institute for Public Administration, Speyer, October 19th to October 21st, 2005] more
Schmitt, Hermann (2005): On the Meaning of European Issues. [CONNEX workshop on The European Public Space, University of Amsterdam, December 10th to December 11th, 2005] more
van Deth, Jan W. (2005): The Role of Civic Associations in EU´s Decision-Making Processes. [Workshop on Social Capital, Civic Engagement and Quality of Governance in the European Union (CONNEX), Brussels, December 01st, 2005] more
Wilde, Kerstin (2005): Democratic standards and the definition of accountability: The Case of the Lobbying-Regulation in the European Parliament. [Workshop 'Democracy and Accountability: identifying mediating conceptual tools', Warsaw, September 30th to October 04th, 2005] more
Wilde, Kerstin (2005): The relation between Public Administrations and Civil Society Interests. [CONNEX User Workshop: 'Managing Interest Representation in the EU', Vilnius, May 13th to May 15th, 2005] more
Kohler-Koch, Beate (2004): Präsentation von Connex. [Zwischenevaluation zum 6. Forschungsrahmenprogramm der Europäischen Union in Baden-Württemberg, Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart, November 10th, 2004] more
Kohler-Koch, Beate (2004): Presentation of Connex. [Communicating European Research: What's in it for you?, European Commission, Bruxelles, May 11th to May 12th, 2004] more
Kohler-Koch, Beate (2004): Presentation of Connex. [Kick-off-Meeting, 1st Call Projects 6th Framework Programme, European Commission, Bruxelles, November 11th, 2004] more