Interest Group Research: Cultivating an "Unsettled Plot"Interest Group Politics. By Allan J. Cigler and Burdett A. Loomis The Interest Group Society. By Jeffrey M. Berry Interest Groups: Policy and Politics in America. By Graham Wooton Organized Interests and American Democracy. By Kay Lehman Schlozman and John T. Tierney

Polity ◽  
1986 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 720-732 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald G. Shaiko
Keyword(s):  
Interest Groups ◽  
Interest Group ◽  
American Democracy ◽  
Organized Interests ◽  
Group Research ◽  
Interest Group Politics ◽  
Group Politics

French Interest Group Politics: Pluralist or Neocorporatist?

1983 ◽  
Vol 77 (4) ◽  
pp. 895-910 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank L. Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Interest Group ◽  
Political System ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Group Leaders ◽  
Limited Impact ◽  
Organized Interests ◽  
Interest Group Politics ◽  
Group Politics ◽  
Willingness To Engage

Although France is not among those countries most frequently cited as examples of the trend toward corporatism, some observers have seen evidence of corporatist patterns of interest group-government contacts. Others assert that French groups have a distinctive protest form of action, and still others see France as a preserve of traditional pluralism. Interviews with 99 French interest group leaders in 1979 suggest that the pluralist model most accurately describes the actions reported by these leaders. Although the group leaders described some corporatist activities, such as participation in statutory commissions, and indicated a willingness to engage in protest, the most common actions were those more consistent with pluralism: personal contacts with government officials and lobbying. These activities were also the forms judged to be most effective in influencing policy, although the overall impression was of a political system in which organized interests had relatively limited impact.

Interest Groups and American Political Development

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dara Z. Strolovitch ◽  
Daniel J. Tichenor
Keyword(s):  
Interest Groups ◽  
Interest Group ◽  
Political Development ◽  
American Political Development ◽  
Advocacy Organizations ◽  
Organized Interests ◽  
Early American ◽  
Marginalized Groups ◽  
American Interest ◽  
Group Politics

Do interest groups enhance or impede the democratic exercise of power? This chapter addresses this long-debated question by examining what longitudinal and American Political Development (APD) approaches contribute to the study of interest groups and what studies of organized interests illuminate about APD. We survey the dominant approaches to interest groups within political science, examine organized interests and lobbying in the early American republic, and document the rise of the modern interest group system at the beginning of the twentieth century. We then explore the role played by advocacy organizations in the trajectories of progress for marginalized groups. We show that APD scholarship has offered fresh insights about patterns and transformations of American interest group politics, and argue that our understanding of the development of American politics will benefit from more robust conversations between the traditional interest group literature and longitudinal and APD approaches to group politics.

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.

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

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 Comparative Interest Group-survey project: design, practical lessons, and data sets

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 272-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Beyers ◽  
Danica Fink-Hafner ◽  
William A. Maloney ◽  
Meta Novak ◽  
Frederik Heylen
Keyword(s):  
Interest Groups ◽  
Interest Group ◽  
Organizational Context ◽  
Project Design ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Organized Interests ◽  
Group Research ◽  
Interest Organizations ◽  
Practical Implications

Abstract This article discusses the methodology and practice behind planning and executing the Comparative Interest Group-survey project (CIG-survey). The CIG-survey includes surveys among national populations of organized interests in 9 European countries and at the European Union level. Although surveys are a useful and reliable way to collect data on a variety of topics, there are also numerous pitfalls and challenges in surveying interest groups, especially across multiple countries. Despite the prominent use of surveys in interest group research, systematic reflections on this method are scarce and data sets are not always properly archived or openly accessible. This article elaborates upon the practical implications and reflects on the lessons learnt during from the implementation of the CIG-survey. Moreover, we highlight how the fuzzy boundaries of interest communities obfuscate sampling and that surveying interest organizations requires researchers to navigate through a specific organizational context to reach and motivate respondents. We also demonstrate how a careful survey plan can positively affect response rates and enable the creation of robust comparative data sets.

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.

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