A la recherche d'une méthode d'analyse des partis et des groupes d'intérêt

Abstract

After indicating that no rigorous political theory of groups exists, chiefly because interest groups are not genuine groups in the sense of “real collective units,” the author examines the disadvantages and advantages of using the systems analysis approach for the study of political parties and interest groups. Three correctives are suggested to systems theory, as it has been developed by a number of authors and more especially by David Easton, to make it better suited for the analysis of parties and interest groups. First, the environment must be made operational by the introduction, in addition to the political system, of a social system, providing constraints on the analyst comparable to those of the political system itself, and by the identification within both systems of a social and a political dynamic. Second, greater attention must be given to the way in which parties and interest groups, inasmuch as they act as input mechanisms, permit interactions between the social and the political systems. Third, a sharper focus must be put on the way the input function of political systems throws light on the life of groups.