ABSTRACT
Over the past few decades, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have increasingly become a subject of inquiry for scholars in a variety of disciplines. This is particularly notable in the field of international relations and political science, disciplines that are historically predominantly preoccupied with studying the state and its interaction with other states. As the recognition of the importance of civil society in democracies took hold, so did acceptance of NGOs as actors in their own right, occasioning research into their work and their interactions with states and intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) (Liebert 2013; Liebert and Trenz 2011; Steffek and Hahn 2010; Sudbery 2010). In the European Union (EU), this new-found interest in NGOs had the additional benefit of working against the long-standing critique of the organization regarding its democratic deficit. Given this critique, consulting and working with NGOs was considered an important way in which the organization could be brought closer to the people within its territory (Cram 2011; Steffek et al. 2008).
