Role Of Interest Groups Research Articles

Government, Interest Groups and Policy Change

Much of the British and European literature on the role of interest groups in the policy process focuses on their participation in policy networks of various types. Possibly reflecting the original development of the policy community and policy network ‘models' in the late 1970s, these approaches tend to emphasize stability and continuity – of both networks and policies. However, the 1980s and 1990s have witnessed much policy change and instability in most Western European states. In particular, some governments have adopted a more impositional policy style, and interest groups have learned to exploit the opportunities presented by a policy process which is increasingly characterized by multiple opportunity structures. This is especially the case following Europeanization of many policy sectors within the fifteen EU member states. The article focuses on the possible causes of policy change, including the importance of state power; changes in the behaviour of interest groups as they adjust to and exploit the opportunities presented by multi-arena policy-making; the impact of new policy fashions, reflecting knowledge and ideas which can act as a virus-like threat to existing policy communities.

U.S. Policy Toward China: An Introduction to the Role of Interest Groups (review)

U.S. Policy Toward China: An Introduction to the Role of Interest Groups (review)

U.S. Policy toward China: An Introduction to the Role of Interest Groups. Robert G. Sutter

Previous articleNext article No AccessReviewsU.S. Policy toward China: An Introduction to the Role of Interest Groups. Robert G. SutterPeter Van NessPeter Van Ness Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The China Journal Volume 43Jan., 2000 Published on behalf of the Australian Centre on China in the World at the Australian National University Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.2307/2667543 Views: 6Total views on this site Copyright The China JournalPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

The role of interest groups in agricultural policy design: Chile 1960-1988

This article recognizes the importance of two policy instruments in shaping the path of agriculture during its development process. The implications of agricultural price policies on the funding of agricultural research are explicitly considered in a set of structural equations for a unique path of Chilean political history. A political economy model includes four blocks of simultaneous equations estimated as an interdependent system. The level of price policies and public research investments result from the collective action exerted on the government by pressure groups of producers, consumers and taxpayers involved in the production, consumption and funding of agriculture. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The role of interest groups in products liability law

Describes the impact of recent changes in US tort law and identifies four interest groups concerned: manufacturers, insurance companies, consumers and lawyers. Discusses their relative strengths, motivations and influence on judicial decisions, citing relevant liability cases for product‐related injuries due to manufacturing defects, design defects and inadequate warnings. Develops a logistic regression model to relate state adoption of strict liability standards to the relative strength of interest groups and applies it to US data. Suggests that the strength of manufacturers and, more particularly, lawyers is significant; and that liberal states are more likely to adopt strict liability for design defects. Calls for further research on the role of the legal profession in legal change.

The role of interest groups in agricultural policy design: Chile 1960–1988

This article recognizes the importance of two policy instruments in shaping the path of agriculture during its development process. The implications of agricultural price policies on the funding of agricultural research are explicitly considered in a set of structural equations for a unique path of Chilean political history. A political economy model includes four blocks of simultaneous equations estimated as an interdependent system. The level of price policies and public research investments result from the collective action exerted on the government by pressure groups of producers, consumers and taxpayers involved in the production, consumption and funding of agriculture. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Organized interests in the policy-making process in Slovenia

The article describes the emergence of a modern civil society in the context of democratic transition in Slovenia. Empirical research has shown that modern interest groups are developing and gaining sway in the policy-making process and, moreover, that some institutionalized forms of consultative politics are becoming part of the new political system. Political parties still dominate in interest intermediation. The role of interest groups in policy-making and the types of emerging policy network vary considerably among policy fields. European networking helps to strengthen the visibility and influence of interest groups in the policy-making process.

Solving south Africa's Chinese puzzle: Democratic foreign policy making and the ‘two chinas’ question

When President Nelson Mandela abruptly announced on 27 November 1996 that South Africa would no longer recognise the Republic of China but would open official diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China in its stead, he caught the world by surprise. In what was a fittingly bizarre end to a situation that continued to defy all expectations, the post‐apartheid government made its first significant foreign policy decision. The remarkable level of public debate, the inter‐departmental conflicts, the role of interest groups and party politics which accompanied the decision to switch recognition gave the South African government and the public as a whole its first exposure to the vagaries of conducting foreign policy in a democracy. This article will examine the decision to recognise the People's Republic of China by investigating the historical relationship between the South African state, non‐state actors and their Chinese counterparts, the debate itself and the role of interest groups ‐ both within and outside the formal policy making process ‐ in seeking to influence the decision and analysing the dynamics of the recognition decision. In so doing, it hopes to shed some light on the policy decision making process in the new democratic South Africa.

Institutional Choice and Political Faith

Public law in the post-New Deal era has been profoundly influenced by a rising tide of pessimism about the role of interest groups. Oversimplifying greatly, one can divide the last half century into three phases in terms of the conventional wisdom about interest groups and their perceived impact on law. The first phase, which lasted from roughly the mid-1930s to the mid1960s, was a period of relative optimism about the impact of interest groups. By and large, academic commentators during these years were confident that the political institutions of democracy could either neutralize or harness the parochialism of groups and thereby develop policies in the public interest. This generalization lumps together two otherwise disparate strands of thought. It includes, on the one hand, the scientific management school associated with James Landis (1938), who thought that the answer to interest group influence was to insulate expert administrative agencies from ordinary politics. It also includes pluralists like David Truman (1951), Earl Latham (1952), and Robert Dahl (1961), who believed that competition

Leadership and innovation in the administrative state

The field of public administration, as well as the social science upon which it is based, has given little serious attention to the importance of vigorous leadership by career as well as non-career public administrators. The field tends to focus on the rigidities of political behavior and the obstacles to change. To reclaim an understanding of the importance of individual leadership the author suggests the use of biography and life history. The behavior and personality of the entrepreneur is an especially helpful perspective on the connection between leadership and organizational or institutional innovation. The case of Julius Henry Cohen, who played a pivotal role in the development of the New York Port Authority, is used to illustrate the connection between the entrepreneurial personality or perspective and innovation. In the social sciences—and especially in the study of American political institutions—primary attention is given to the role of interest groups and to bureaucratic routines and other inst...

Role Playing and Mind Mapping Issues on Nitrate Contamination

Agricultural science professionals are faced with controversial issues that often reach far beyond the professional’s discipline. The need for competencies in systems approaches to problem-solving is stimulating revisions of agricultural science curricula. Mind mapping and role playing exercises described herein were designed (i) to guide students in the exploration, expression, and integration of the varying viewpoints and opinions of a controversial topic (i.e., nitrate contamination f our water supply); (ii) to illustrate the importance of applying soil fertility principles to environmental and agronomic management; and (iii) to encourage students to take active leadership in their learning process. These exercises were developed for a college Soil Fertility course and for a high school student workshop during a college recruitment conference. Students assumed the roles of interest groups in the controversy over nitrate contamination. Published articles and reports, many of which were written from biased views, gave students a sense of the various perspectives on the issues. Student evaluations of the exercises suggested students enjoyed exchanging these ideas and perspectives during a small-group mind-mapping assignment and in a mock town hall meeting. They also gained an appreciation for developing science-based solutions to the nitrate contamination problem, while reconciling the varying perspectives within society. Mind maps helped students understand interrelationships and roles among overnment agencies, fertilizer industry, farmers, consumers, and university personnel. Ac SCIENCE PROFESSIONALS are faced with ontroversial issues that often reach far beyond the professional’s disciplines. Concerns for environmental protection, public health, and long-term agricultural sustainability are affecting agronomic decisions. To solve complex problems such as those related to nitrate pollution, agricultural science graduates will be asked to interact with many segments of society, such as government agencies, environmental and consumer groups, grower organizations, agrichemical industries, and university research and extension personnel. Students need problem-solving skills to deal effectively with such complexities (Wilson and Morren, 1990). This need for problem-solving competencies has stimulated changes in agricultural science curricula (Merritt, 1984; Merritt and Hamm, 1994). These changes include the redesign of whole curricula, course development in systems thinking, and the modification of existing courses (Merritt, 1984; Grabau, 1988; Macadam and Packham, 1989; Merritt and Hamm, 1994). Agriculture courses are typically presented in the lecture and note-taking format, in which the lecturer presents factual material for students to assimilate Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Washington State Univ., Pullman, WA 99164-6420. WSU Crop and Soil Sciences Departmental paper no. 9510-29. Received 21 Oct. 1994. *Corresponding author (wlpan@wsu. edu). Published in J. Nat. Resour. Life Sci. Educ. 25:37-42 (1996). and assemble within their current knowledge base. This is an efficient method for disseminating facts, but it is not as effective at building student competencies in human interactions and group problem-solving. These competencies can be addressed within science-based courses by complementing technical lectures with exercises that weave scientific concepts into discussions of current, controversial topics that are relevant to students as citizens and future professionals. In doing so, students are better able to connect scientific concepts and facts to real-life situations, perhaps sustaining their interest in science and providing motivation for learning. Small-group exercises highlight and encourage the individuality, personality, experiences, and skills of each student (Sharan and Sharan, 1976). Small group settings also empower students to take control of the learning process, giving them an opportunity to develop leadership skills and a sense of self-worth. In addition, students learn to cooperate and communicate in analyzing and organizing abstract concepts. This approach also helps to redefine the role of the instructor from lecturer to facilitator. Role playing and mind mapping are teaching techniques that can be applied within the small-group forum. These techniques can facilitate the exploration of controversial scientific issues by emphasizing systems approaches to problem-solving, stimulating communication, and highlighting diverse opinions on issues (Shaftel and Shaftel, 1982; Wilson and Morren, 1990). In classroom role playing, students view a situation from a perspective that may differ from their own (Thompson, 1978). Mind mapping, also referred to as spider diagramming or dendrogramming, is a method of recording and displaying ideas, concepts, feelings, opinions, and patterns of human activity (Buzan, 1983; Wilson and Morren, 1990). Mind mapping records and organizes an informal conversation among several people where the logic and associations are not necessarily presented in an organized fashion. The objectives of the exercises described here were: (i) to apply role-playing and mind-mapping techniques in the exploration, expression, and integration of the varying viewpoints and opinions of a controversial topic (i.e., nitrate contamination of water); (ii) to illustrate importance of scientific knowledge of soil fertility principles in addressing environmental and agronomic management; and (iii) to encourage students to take active leadership in their learning process.

A Conceptual Model for Studying Social Welfare Policy Comparatively

Abstract Courses in international or comparative social welfare have many benefits, but require a framework for systematic comparisons between countries. This article presents an institutional political process model for studying social welfare policy comparatively. The principal elements of the model include each country's societal values, government institutions (operationalized as the role of interest groups), policy goals, and system implementation (type of welfare system). The model is demonstrated through a comparison of the dissimilar social welfare systems of Sweden and the U.S.

The Fruitfulness of Various Models in the Study of International Environmental Politics

The unitary rational actor (URA) model enjoys a strong position in the study of international politics. I argue that it is far from obvious that the URA model is the most fruitful point of departure in the study of international environmental politics compared to more complex models of bureaucratic politics and the role of interest groups. The argument is based on a brief description of international environmental problems and politics and various criteria of fruitfulness. Particular attention is devoted to the principle of methodological individualism as one criterion of fruitfulness. The discussion is illustrated by applying the models to explain the development of EU climate policy.

The role of interest groups in EU environmental policy formulation: A case study of the draft packaging directive

AbstractGiven the nature and procedures of EU policy making, there is ample opportunity for interest group lobbying. Martin Porter and Alan Butt Philip examine the structures and influence of these interest groups in relation to the proposed packaging and packaging wastes directive, the subject of intense lobbying activity.

Lobbying Expenditures and Government Output: The NEA and Public Education

Primary and secondary education have traditionally been provided by local governments. In recent years, however, higher levels of government have become increasingly involved in the provision of public education. Evidence of this increased involvement includes the greater proportion of funding originating from state or federal sources and the imposition of mandates on local school districts by the state and local governments. These mandates include specifying minimum teacher retirement and other fringe benefits, establishing certain curriculum and textbook requirements, and placing maximum limits on the pupils per teacher. The extent of state government involvement in the provision of elementary and secondary education differs greatly across states. Most studies of state intervention in education have been restricted to examining the effects of intergovernmental grants on local spending.' There has been little positive analysis of why state governments are involved in education or why this involvement varies across states. In this paper, we build upon previous works that consider the role of interest groups in influencing government spending to provide some insights into the role of state governments in public elementary and secondary education and the effects of the state role on local outcomes. Our model focuses on the determination of educational spending when two interest groups, groups of high and low demanders, lobby both state and local governments. We characterize the high demanders of educational expenditures as producers, that is, educators. After developing a model that describes the gains to educators from lobbying at the state level and how the potential gains will differ across states and across localities, we test the model's implications using data on political spending of the state affiliates of the National Education Association (NEA). Using data on salaries aggregated to the state level, we find that NEA political spending increases salaries

Cultural strangers and educational change: The OECD Report Investment in Education and Irish Educational Policy

This paper treats the OECD report on Irish education Investment in Education published in 1965 as a ‘cultural stranger’ and assesses its contribution to Irish educational policy up to the present. Widely regarded as a major modernizing force in Irish society, this report is perceived to have confronted, penetrated, and changed the insular paradigms governing Irish educational policy, in particular replacing the personal development with the human capital paradigm as the institutional rationale for education. The influence of Investment in Education is situated within the economic reconstruction that commenced in the late 1950s, and the lack of contestation and the role of interest groups within the state apparatus and beyond are analysed. The expansion of the human capital paradigm to incorporate commercial, vocational, and market interpretations of schooling and the impact of these on the structuration of consciousness within the educational policy‐making community are described. The conclusion locates t...

The political economy of dilatory reform: Egypt in the 1980s

The paper explores the political economy of Egypt's failure to implement policy reforms during the 1980s despite mounting problems of international indebtedness, macroeconomics imbalances, microdistortions, lack of employment creation, and the need for poverty alleviation. After reviewing the size and origins of these problems, the causes of reform failure are analyzed. These causes lie in domestic blockages, particularly the role of interest groups, and especially in “strategic rents”: the Egyptian government's skillful exploitation of its political role in the region to extract unique favors from the United States and, with US influence, from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The paper concludes with an interpretation of the May 1991 agreement with the IMF reached after the Gulf war.

Industry characteristics and interest group formation: An empirical study

The role of interest groups in the political process has been the subject of much analysis in both political science and economics. However, few studies have examined directly the factors which influence the variation in interest group formation across industrial sectors and between countries. Using data on 75 industrial sectors in 10 countries, we examine the way in which variations in interest group formation are explained by variations in industrial and political characteristics. In cross-sectional empirical relationships we test for the significance of a variety of industry and political variables. Our results indicate that industry characteristics such as the proportion of total demand purchased by households and the concentration ratio are related to variations in interest group formation. We discuss the implications that our results have for recent theoretical work on the effect of interest groups on economic policy.

Japanese Interest Group Politics: An Institutional Framework

Prevailing notions about the structure of power and the role of interest groups in Japanese politics derive from two opposing paradigms in the political science literature on Japan. One is the power elite model that argues that Japan is run by a triple alliance of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), the bureaucracy, and big business with participation in policy making restricted to the members of this cohesive ruling group; the other is the approach suggesting that public policy in Japan is the product of a much more open process, accessible to a range of participants who make inputs into the political system and exercise leverage in different policy areas. The power elite interpretation has been attacked on numerous grounds: for reducing highly complex processes of governmental decision making to an oversimplified stereotype, for ignoring the existence of other power centers in the Japanese polity, and for being unable to account for a variety of policy outcomes. The pluralist view, on the other hand, is incorporated in a number of case studies that have documented the activities of agricultural, medical, teachers' and antipollution groups and discussed national budget, education, and foreign policy making. It is less a systematically developed model than a compound of individual analyses. The framework outlined in this article draws on the contributions of both the power elite and pluralist models. To the elitists it owes its implicit distinction between groups who are incorporated into the policymaking system and those who are not, and to the pluralists, its conception of political influence as being primarily reflected in terms of participation in the policy process. At the same time, it develops new perspectives on

Determinants of PAC Participation Among Large Corporations

Political scientists and other researchers have begun to focus increasingly on the role of interest groups in American politics. In particular, they have devoted increasing attention to the political representation of institutional interests. Several studies have been published that examine various aspects of business political action committees. However, there has been a tendency to treat business PACs as pervasive or homogenous, despite the fact that most businesses do not have a PAC. This study has attempted to address this deficiency by examining the determinants of PAC participation among Fortune-ranked firms in the 1981-1982 election period. Using an exploratory expected benefits-costs framework, the study empirically tests hypotheses on the effect of organizational and contextual factors on the probability of a corporation having an active PAC. The results support several hypotheses and suggest that the expected benefits and costs of PAC activity affect a corporation's decision to form a PAC.