The Federation of German Employers' Associations: a Political Interest Group

Abstract

M OST OF THE RECENT literature dealing with West German interest groups and their roles in the political process is intended either to provide initial and tentative typologies by which the groups can be classified and distinguished or to demonstrate how a particular set of interests, such as that of labor or of the business community, is broadly defined and projected into the political arena.1 While each of these approaches has much to contribute to the eventual construction of theoretical models, studies of particular interest groups may provide data by which these models can be verified and refined. It is therefore the purpose of this paper to focus on a single West German interest group, the Federation of German Employers' Associations (BDA),2 giving primary attention to its internal structure and decision-making processes, the techniques by which it seeks to influence public policy, and the ideology which it has formulated both explicitly and implicitly as a statement and rationale of its goals. The writer does not presume to develop on the basis of an examination of one group a conceptual schema describing the role and impact on public policy of West German interest groups. Indeed, little effort is made to discover empirically the political significance of the group under consideration. Such an undertaking would involve an assessment of factors outside the scope of the present inquiry. Moreover, it should not be inferred by the reader that because the BDA has been singled out, this is the most influential interest group for West German businessmen. However, there is the underlying assumption in this paper that the BDA is one of several business interest groups which, because of its scope of membership and activities, justifies special attention in viewing the interest group complex of the West German business community.