  In this paper we discuss the connections between a Vlasov-Fokker-Planck
equation and an underlying microscopic particle system, and we interpret those
connections in the context of the GENERIC framework (\"Ottinger 2005). This
interpretation provides (a) a variational formulation for GENERIC systems, (b)
insight into the origin of this variational formulation, and (c) an explanation
of the origins of the conditions that GENERIC places on its constitutive
elements, notably the so-called degeneracy or non-interaction conditions. This
work shows how the general connection between large-deviation principles on one
hand and gradient-flow structures on the other hand extends to non-reversible
particle systems.
