Civic organizations and academics in European Union-Latin American relations

Analysis of the role of civil society organizations in relations between the European Union and Latin America since the 1970’s, with focus on the last decade, from a mainly European perspective. The article begins by presenting an analytic framework for understanding civil participation in international relations and then goes on to outline the principal players—the Church, political foundations and organizations, and nongovernmental organizations—in the specific case of the links between the EU and Latin America. The article then continues with a discussion of a sector of civil society thus farnot much analyzed in the literature, academic institutions. It looks at some of their most significant contributions, particularly their influence on the practice of biregional relations, one of the most important goals of various networks created in recent years. Finally, the last section provides reflections on the contribution of these players to Euro-Latin American relations.