14. Interest Groups

2020 ◽  
pp. 252-266
Author(s):  
Roland Erne
Keyword(s):  
Interest Groups ◽  
Public Interest ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
Voluntary Organizations ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Private Interest ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Interest Representation ◽  
Alternative Suggestion

This chapter examines the role that interest groups play in political systems across time and space. Many scholars define interest groups as voluntary organizations that appeal to government but do not participate in elections. In a comparative context, however, this formal definition is problematic as the form of interest representation varies across countries. An alternative suggestion is to distinguish ‘public’ and ‘private interest groups’, but the term ‘public interest’ is problematic because of its contentious nature. The chapter begins with a review of different definitions of interest groups and the problems associated with each. It then considers the legacies of competing theoretical traditions in the field, namely republicanism, pluralism, and neocorporatism. It also discusses the role of interest associations in practice, distinguishing different types of action that are available to different groups, including direct lobbying, political exchange, contentious politics, and private interest government.

14. Interest groups

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roland Erne
Keyword(s):  
Interest Groups ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
Voluntary Organizations ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Private Interest ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Interest Representation ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Alternative Suggestion

This chapter examines the role that interest groups play in political systems across time and space. Many scholars define interest groups as voluntary organizations that appeal to government but do not participate in elections. In a comparative context, however, this formal definition is problematic as the form of interest representation varies across countries. An alternative suggestion is to distinguish ‘public’ and ‘private interest groups’, but the term ‘public interest’ is problematic because of its contentious nature. The chapter begins with a review of different definitions of interest groups and the problems associated with each. It then considers the legacies of competing theoretical traditions in the field, namely republicanism, pluralism, and neocorporatism. It also discusses the role of interest associations in practice, distinguishing different types of action that are available to different groups, including direct lobbying, political exchange, contentious politics, and private interest government.

The Telecommunications Policy Process

2000 ◽  
Vol 96 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trevor Barr
Keyword(s):  
Interest Groups ◽  
Public Interest ◽  
Policy Process ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Strategic Thinking ◽  
Telecommunications Policy ◽  
Power Shift ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
Public Interest Groups

A fundamental power shift is underway in contemporary Australia — the deconstruction of the role of the state in ownership, policy and strategic thinking for the future. In telecommunications policy, we have replaced strategic thinking for the nation with ad hoc strategic planning by an array of intensely competitive companies. This article argues that we need to widen the framework of a plethora of public-interest groups pushing narrow sectional interest to much wider inputs in the overall policy process. We need to foster imaginative attempts at constructing national plans — of many different kinds — for Australia's communications future.

Without Restraint: Scandal and Politics in America

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julian E. Zelizer
Keyword(s):  
Interest Groups ◽  
Public Interest ◽  
Public Perception ◽  
Bill Clinton ◽  
National Politics ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Interest Groups ◽  
Television Coverage ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter explores the relationship between politics and scandal throughout American history. Scandals had been part of American politics since the revolution, but they had never so pervasive as in the last three decades of the twentieth century. They had become integral to partisan strategy, political reform, and the public perception of government. The chapter first considers the role of scandal in national politics in the early postwar era, 1945–1964, before discussing the efforts of public interest groups in collaboration with liberal Democrats to put corruption on the national agenda. It then examines the politics of reform between 1972 and 1978, along with the change in political style that gradually encouraged the latent tendency of democratic politics to veer into scandal during the period 1978–1992. It also looks at television coverage of scandals and the impeachment of Bill Clinton and concludes with some reflections on the future of scandal politics.

A Black Hole in Democracy?

2021 ◽  
pp. 117-150
Author(s):  
Antoine Vauchez ◽  
Samuel Moyn
Keyword(s):  
Black Hole ◽  
Public Interest ◽  
Democratic Citizenship ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Core ◽  
Political Risks ◽  
Gray Area

This chapter offers a normative assessment of the political risks and diffuse democratic costs related to the blurring process, and considers its cumulative effects from the standpoint of democratic theory. It points at the role of the public sphere's autonomy as a critical condition for democratic citizenship. Because this gray area remains largely shielded from most forms of political and professional oversight, it has become a new democratic “black hole” in which professional intermediaries — lawyers, consultants, and so forth — thrive and prosper. When confronting this extraterritorial zone that has grown up at the core of political systems, and the corrosive effects of its expansion, democracies appear to be seriously underequipped. The blurring of the public–private divide not only weakens the capacity to produce a “public interest” that rests at bay from market asymmetries, but also the very ability to conceptually identify what such a “public interest” may be. This may be one of the biggest challenges ahead for neoliberalized democracies.

11. Law-Making in Governments and Parliaments

2021 ◽  
pp. 192-210
Author(s):  
Catherine E. De Vries ◽  
Sara B. Hobolt ◽  
Sven-Oliver Proksch ◽  
Jonathan B. Slapin
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Veto Players ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Change Policy ◽  
Law Making

This chapter explores how political systems across Europe actually make policy and also how they change policy. It examines in detail how coalitions are formed and looks at how coalitions function. The chapter uses the theoretical lens of the Veto Players theory to consider how the nature of governments, and parties within governments, affect the type of policies that become law. It also looks at the ease with which governments can change existing policy. The chapter moves on to address the role of informal actors such as interest groups. Processes differ across different countries and at the European Union (EU) level and that is examined in this chapter as well.

Interest Group Politics

2020 ◽  
pp. 383-399
Author(s):  
Stella Zambarloukou
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Transition To Democracy ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Organized Interests ◽  
Interest Representation ◽  
Interest Group Politics ◽  
Group Politics ◽  
Path Dependent

This chapter examines the unfolding of interest representation and intermediation, from 1974 to 2018 by focusing mostly on the organization of wage labour, farmers, and the liberal professions and their respective ties to the political system. State–society relations in Greece have undergone a number of transformations since the transition to democracy in 1974, but until 2010 these were mostly of a path-dependent nature. Legacies of authoritarianism and clientelism contributed to the formation of close ties between organized interests and political actors, and the model of interest representation and intermediation that emerged after 1974 did not fit with either the pluralist nor the neo-corporatist models that prevailed in other Western European states in the 1970s and 1980s. The particularistic ties formed between interest groups and political parties was seen as part of the problem that led Greece to the verge of default in 2010, which in turn contributed to a dismantling of the existing model. Given that policies during the 2010–18 period were for the most part dictated by the bailout agreements, the role of interest groups inevitably subsided, but a clear alternative to the previous model has not yet emerged.

scholarly journals The role of public insight in urban planning process: Increasing efficiency and effectiveness

Spatium ◽  
2013 ◽  
pp. 33-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natasa Danilovic-Hristic ◽  
Nebojsa Stefanovic
Keyword(s):  
Urban Planning ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Public Interest ◽  
Planning Process ◽  
Living Environment ◽  
Legal Basis ◽  
The Public ◽  
Efficiency And Effectiveness

Public interest (citizens, investors, interest groups, NGOs, media and similar) in the urban planning process and proposed planning solutions, certainly is not negligible, however, according to the opinion of the professional public, it has often been wrongly directed and conducted. The legal basis, which in rudimentary outlines prescribes the procedure of the public insight/hearing, i.e. the presentation of the planning document, does not provide sufficient input, however, also does not prevent organization of more qualitative and productive communication with the interested individuals, not only at the very finalization of plan development, but also at the initial phases of the initiative for decision making or forming the conceptual solution. In order to better comprehend the real needs of the citizens, urban planners should much earlier than the public insight i.e. presentation of already formed solutions, get in touch with citizens, interview them, organize workshops, insights and meetings on specific topics, trying to explain the planning procedures, standards and norms, as well as to present all that which is required in order to raise the quality of life in the neighborhood and provide some level of public interest and good, and thus increase the value of real estate. On the other hand, the citizens knowing their living environment the best should participate more actively in its creation, by indicating to the problems and needs, reacting to certain topics and thus assisting the professionals in shaping and committing their planning solutions. To that respect this paper provides certain recommendations, based on international experience, by implementation of which the satisfactory level of democracy (more transparency, inclusivity and effectiveness) of the procedure should be provided in Serbia as well.

scholarly journals The dualistic nature of lobbying in modern democracies

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 125-134
Author(s):  
P. S. Kanevskiy
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
The State ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Xxth Century ◽  
Private Interests ◽  
Democratic Regimes ◽  
Political Interests

The development of lobbying in the modern world is directly related to the dynamics of democratic regimes. The interaction between interest groups and the state is inherent in the nature of constitutional democracies. However, as shown in this article, lobbying in a democracy can be viewed from two opposite perspectives — as a continuation of the spirit of democracy and the development of a dialogue between the civil society and the state and as a deviation from the principles of representative democracy. The article analyzes the categories of public and private interests and it is shown that the interpretation of the role of interest groups and lobbying in a society depends on how we understand the interest and whom we consider as carriers of political interests. It is shown how in the XXth century a classical discussion was developing around the role of interest groups in politics and that this discussion has not lost its relevance today.

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