Networks of Interest Groups - Interest Groups, their Positions and Relations in EU Legislative Process

This diploma thesis examines networking of interest groups. It presents potentional entrance points for influencing legislative processes in the EU. The thesis focuses mainly on European Commission's public consultations. It tries to answer the question whether the interest groups cooperate strategically or whether they try to reach their goals on their own. This thesis is grounded in the framework of the network theory and uses the method of graphic modeling. For the research we have selected three areas of European Commission's consultations. The participating interest groups were chosen based on their characteristics and the consultations they took part in. We have found out that among the interest groups gathered around European Commission there is no close collaboration taking place. Furthermore, the interest groups act rather spontaneously as they are generally only taking part in individual consultations. Only 12.3% of them participated in more than one consultation and they were mainly registered organizations