Interest Group Politics and Its Transformation in Japan

Asian Survey ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 532-557
Author(s):  
Hidehiro Yamamoto
Keyword(s):  
Interest Groups ◽  
Interest Group ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Party System ◽  
Liberal Democratic Party ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
The Face ◽  
Interest Group Politics ◽  
Group Politics ◽  
The Impact

The political reforms that have been going on since the 1990s have drastically changed the face of politics in Japan. The most significant of these reforms was the change of government, which brought an end, albeit only once, to the long-standing Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) regime. These changes were expected to change the power structure by altering the contact of interest groups with political elites. I examine this issue based on a longitudinal survey conducted in four rounds between 1997 and 2017. The results show a robust structure of interest group politics, although the features were weakening. That is, contacts with the LDP and the bureaucracy were sources of political influence for interest groups. The impact of the two-party system and its setbacks are seen in the change in contact with the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). However, The DPJ did not function as a source of interest representation.

Interest Group Politics and Economic Growth in the U.S. States

1988 ◽  
Vol 82 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Virginia Gray ◽  
David Lowery
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Interest Group ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Causal Chain ◽  
State Data ◽  
Interest Group Politics ◽  
Group Politics ◽  
Interest Group Influence ◽  
Complete Specification

Mancur Olson's model of economic growth has attracted great attention as a theoretical account of how interest groups influence the rate of economic growth over time. Moreover, the model appears to have received strong empirical support in Olson's tests employing U.S. state data. However, the specification of the Olson construct in these tests is insufficiently attentive to the complex causal chain implicit in Olson's argument, inadequately accounts for precisely how interest groups matter, and employs a static research design that obfuscates the cause-and-effect relationships posited by the model. We review these issues and develop a more complete specification of the Olson model. The respecified model is then tested using U.S. state data for the period of the late 1970s and early 1980s using new measures of interest-group influence.

scholarly journals Review of Grossman and Helpman's Special Interest Politics

2002 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 1221-1229 ◽  
Author(s):  
David P Baron
Keyword(s):  
Interest Groups ◽  
Interest Group ◽  
Special Interest ◽  
Special Interest Groups ◽  
Supporting Evidence ◽  
Political Outcomes ◽  
Special Interest Politics ◽  
Interest Group Politics ◽  
Group Politics ◽  
New Research

In Special Interest Politics Gene Grossman and Elhanan Helpman examine how special-interest groups influence political outcomes for the benefit of their members. The authors take interest groups seriously by considering a range of theories and supporting evidence on interest group activity. Their book provides perspectives on how to study interest group politics and a set of methods for that study. Although the authors present a number of standard models, the book contains much that is new. The reader takes away a multitude of results, tools, models, and new research ideas. The result is an outstanding book full of insight, useful methods, and perspective.

scholarly journals The Question of Interest Group Influence

2007 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANDREAS DÜR ◽  
DIRK DE BIÈVRE
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Interest Group ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Public ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Interest Group Politics ◽  
Group Politics ◽  
Interest Group Influence

Interest groups are a major channel through which citizens can express their opinions to decision-makers. Their participation in policymaking may improve decision-making processes by supporting policies that are in line with citizen preferences and blocking policies that solely reflect the interests of the governing elite. At the same time, however, intense interest group pressures may make it difficult for policy-makers to implement the most efficient policies since such policies often impose costs on parts of the public. Competition among interest groups over the distribution of economic gains may also slow down the rate of economic growth (Olson 1982). Finally, if some groups constantly win, interest group politics may undermine the legitimacy of electorally accountable decision making in a democracy.

A Network Approach to Interest Group Politics

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael T. Heaney ◽  
James M. Strickland
Keyword(s):  
Network Analysis ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Interest Group ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Longitudinal Network Analysis ◽  
Interest Group Politics ◽  
Access Information ◽  
Group Politics

Interest groups often serve as intermediaries or brokers between formal decision-making institutions and organized subgroups of society. Due to this positioning, key functions of interest groups can be understood in network terms. This chapter addresses five questions about interest groups to which network analysis offers answers: (1) What are the origins of interest groups?; (2) How do they develop, maintain, and change their identities over time?; (3) Under what conditions do groups work together, and how?; (4) How do interest groups relate to other political institutions?; and (5) What influence do they have on politics generally? The discussion highlights various effects of networks on interest group politics, including how new groups are born out of preexisting networks, how they use connections to access information and influence policy, and how they maintain long-term relationships with policymakers. Future research could benefit from greater attention to multiplexity, content analysis, and longitudinal network analysis.

scholarly journals Patterns of Conflict and Mobilization: Mapping Interest Group Activity in EU Legislative Policymaking

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 136-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arndt Wonka ◽  
Iskander De Bruycker ◽  
Dirk De Bièvre ◽  
Caelesta Braun ◽  
Jan Beyers
Keyword(s):  
Interest Groups ◽  
Interest Group ◽  
Political Conflict ◽  
Strategy Development ◽  
Body Of Knowledge ◽  
Legislative Proposals ◽  
Interest Group Politics ◽  
Group Politics ◽  
Elite Interviews ◽  
Group Mobilization

Contemporary studies on interest group politics have mainly used single interest organizations as their central objects of study. This has led to a rich body of knowledge on the motivations of interest group mobilization, strategy development and even policy access and influence. The focus on single interest groups, however, has resulted in limited knowledge on aggregate patterns of interest groups’ activity. This article seeks to address this lacuna, by examining patterns of mobilization and conflict of interest groups’ activity in EU legislative policymaking. To do so, it adopts a unique policy-centred research design and an empirical assessment of policy mobilization for a sample of 125 EU legislative proposals based on extensive media coding as well as structured elite interviews. We find that levels of policy mobilization vary substantively across different legislative proposals and that political conflict between interest groups is remarkably low. This suggests that interest group conflict and mobilization contribute little to EU politicization and that in cases where interest groups voice opposing positions, conflicts do not occur between business and non-business groups. Our findings have important implications for our understanding of interest groups in EU legislative policymaking.

Theodore J. Lowi,

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Holyoke
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Interest Group ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
The United States ◽  
Executive Branch ◽  
Government Power ◽  
Interest Group Politics ◽  
Group Politics

This chapter examines Theodore J. Lowi’sThe End of Liberalism,which issued dire warnings about the growing scope of government power and assumed responsibility in the United States as well as the dominance of interest groups over public policy-making. Lowi tackles the delegation of policy-making authority to the executive branch, the abdication of Congressional responsibility, and the erosion of representative government responsive to the popular will. The chapter assesses the book’s impact on political science and public policy scholarship, by considering how it brought together public policy and interest group politics. It then turns to Lowi’s views about interest group pluralism and how liberal politicians harnessed pluralist theory to replace elected representation with interest groups as proxies for citizen participation. Finally, the chapter analyzes the influence of Lowi’s book on public administration and the rule of law.

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