Opening the black box: The professionalization of interest groups in the European Union

Abstract

Does professionalization vary across interest group type? Even though an empirical assessment of interest group professionalization is crucial to understand their potential for enhancing the democratic legitimacy of the European Union, little is known about the internal configuration of interest groups. Although some argue that professionalization differs systematically across interest group type, others suggest that institutional pressures lead to converging professionalization patterns, so that cause groups and sectional groups are similarly professionalized. However, these assertions are based on case studies focusing only on a small number of interest groups, which makes it difficult to draw general conclusions. To overcome this important shortcoming, we provide an empirical analysis of professionalization patterns that is based on a comprehensive survey conducted among a wide variety of interest groups. Our findings indicate that professionalization patterns do not vary systematically across interest group type. By contrast, cause groups and sectional groups are similarly professionalized.