It Is All About Money! What Drives Interest Groups’ Relations with Political Parties in Central and Eastern Europe?

Abstract

This article studies contacts between interest groups and political parties. Existing research suggests that times of close and formal cooperation between parties and groups in Western Europe are over as the contacts have become more pragmatic and sometimes spontaneous. Studies usually point to ideological proximity and resource exchange as the main factors behind contacts, however, focusing mainly on parties’ power and ideological position. Here, by drawing on data from Poland, Slovenia, and Lithuania, we focus on young democracies from Eastern Europe by taking into account interest groups’ resources, their typology, and the system of interest groups’ representation. The article shows that financial resources are the main factor behind seeking contacts with the large number of political parties.