scholarly journals Cooperation in networks: Political parties and interest groups in EU policy-making in Germany

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 130-151
Author(s):  
Arndt Wonka ◽  
Sebastian Haunss
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Cooperative Behavior ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Political Support ◽  
European Union Policy ◽  
Eu Policy ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Group Politics

Political actors cooperate with each other to share resources and to organize political support. In this article, we describe and explain such cooperative behavior in European Union policy-making by analyzing the information networks that parliamentarians of the Bundestag entertain with other party politicians and with interest groups. First, we describe whom parliamentarians cooperate with to receive policy information. Subsequently, we identify different types of cooperation networks. Differences in the structure of these networks point to a political division of labor inside political parties which is driven by the need to organize political support in policy-making. Finally, we test the explanatory power of individual attributes, institutional positions and (shared) political interests to account for the structure of parliamentarians’ cooperation networks. While formal positions and party ideology generally shape parliamentarians’ cooperation, their relative importance varies across different types of networks. The article contributes theoretically to informational theories of interest group politics and to the literature on national legislators’ behavior in EU policy-making.

2. Theorizing EU Policy-Making

2020 ◽  
pp. 12-42
Author(s):  
Mark A. Pollack
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Politics ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Separation Of Powers ◽  
Judicial Politics ◽  
European Union Policy ◽  
Eu Policy ◽  
Liberal Intergovernmentalism ◽  
Union Policy ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
The Eu

This chapter surveys seven decades of theorizing about European Union policy-making and policy processes. It begins with a discussion of theories of European integration, including neo-functionalism, intergovernmentalism, liberal intergovernmentalism, institutionalism, constructivism, and postfunctionalism. It then considers the increasing number of studies that approach the EU through the lenses of comparative politics and comparative public policy, focusing on the federal or quasi-federal aspects of the EU and its legislative, executive, and judicial politics. It finally explores the vertical and horizontal separation of powers in the EU and concludes by looking at the ‘governance approach’ to the EU, with emphasis on multi-level governance and EU policy networks, Europeanization, and the question of the EU’s democratic deficit.

19. Policy-Making in a Time of Crisis Trends and Challenges

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark A. Pollack ◽  
Helen Wallace ◽  
Alasdair R. Young
Keyword(s):  
Policy Making ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Domestic Institutions ◽  
European Union Policy ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Policy ◽  
Union Policy ◽  
The Global Financial Crisis ◽  
The Eu

This chapter examines trends and challenges in European Union policy-making during times of crisis. It first considers the main trends in EU policy-making that emerge from policy case studies, including experimentation with new modes of policy-making, often in conjunction with more established modes, leading to hybridization; renegotiation of the role of the member states (and their domestic institutions) in the EU policy process; and erosion of traditional boundaries between internal and external policies. The chapter proceeds by discussing the issue of national governance as well as the interaction between European and global governance. Finally, it explores how the EU has responded to the challenges of coping with enlargement from fifteen to twenty-eight member states, digesting the reforms adopted following the implementation of the Treaty of Lisbon, and responding to the economic dislocation associated with the global financial crisis.

The European Commission and Interest Groups: Towards a Deliberative Interpretation of Stakeholder Involvement in EU Policy-making, by Irina Tanasescu. Brussels: V.U.B. Press, 2009, 285 pp., € 38.50, Paperback.

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 455-456
Author(s):  
Alan Hardacre
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
European Commission ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Stakeholder Involvement ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Important Research ◽  
Eu Policy ◽  
Political Scandals

The interaction between organised interests and the European Union institutions has been subject to increasing study and analysis in recent years, and the relevance of this increasingly important research agenda has been highlighted by political scandals and developments in 2011.

scholarly journals Interest Groups Incentives to Cooperate in the Production of Information in the Context of the EU Policy-Making

2018 ◽  
Vol XXI (Issue 4) ◽  
pp. 794-804
Author(s):  
A. Garcia-Lorenzo ◽  
J. Lopez-Rodriguez ◽  
J.M. Barreiro-Vinan
Keyword(s):  
Interest Groups ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Eu Policy ◽  
The Eu ◽  
Production Of Information

10. Political Parties

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Ferdinand
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Political Party ◽  
Political System ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
The Other ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
The Political ◽  
Popular Vote ◽  
Different Types

This chapter deals with political parties: why they emerged, how they can be classified, what functions they perform, how they interact, and what challenges they are facing today. One of the paradoxes about democracies is that there is almost a unanimous consensus about the indispensability of political parties. On the other hand, the benefits of being a member of a political party are bound to be minuscule compared to the costs of membership. Thus it is irrational for people to join parties. They should only form (small) interest groups. The chapter first provides a historical background on the development of political parties before discussing their functions, such as legitimation of the political system, structuring the popular vote, and formulation of public policy. It then considers different types of political parties as well as the characteristics of party systems and concludes with an analysis of the problems facing political parties today.

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 Dealing with bad guys: actor- and process-level determinants of the “devil shift” in policy making

2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 309-334 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel Fischer ◽  
Karin Ingold ◽  
Pascal Sciarini ◽  
Frédéric Varone
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Policy Actors ◽  
Economic Issues ◽  
State Actors ◽  
The Devil ◽  
Process Level

AbstractPolicy actors tend to misinterpret and distrust opponents in policy processes. This phenomenon, known as the “devil shift”, consists of the following two dimensions: actors perceive opponents as more powerful and as more evil than they really are. Analysing nine policy processes in Switzerland, this article highlights the drivers of the devil shift at two levels. On the actor level, interest groups, political parties and powerful actors suffer more from the devil shift than state actors and powerless actors. On the process level, the devil shift is stronger in policy processes dealing with socio-economic issues as compared with other issues. Finally, and in line with previous studies, there is less empirical evidence of the power dimension of the devil shift phenomenon than of its evilness dimension.

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