The collaboration between interest groups and political parties in multi-party democracies

Abstract

Whereas many advanced democracies have a long-standing tradition of collaboration between parties and interest groups, it is still contested what drives such collaboration. Linking data on political parties with survey data from over 750 Danish and Dutch interest groups we find evidence of groups focusing on collaboration with large and ideologically moderate parties in both systems. However, our findings also indicate that the importance of power and ideology for interest group-party collaboration is conditioned by crucial aspects of the institutional context in which such collaboration occurs related to party system dynamics and coalition governance. In Denmark, where governments tend to alternate between left and right, collaboration between parties and interest groups is more likely to follow a similar left-right division. In contrast, such collaboration is more likely to reflect a division between core and marginal parties in the Netherlands, where change in government composition is typically only partial.

Political or Financial Benefits? Ideology, Tenure, and Parliamentarians’ Choice of Interest Group Ties

“…Our finding that left‐leaning MPs devote less time to firms also echoes previous studies that have addressed the role of ideological alignment in party‐IG collaboration (Koger et al ; Otjes and Rasmussen ) and parliamentarian‐IG collaboration (Hall and Deardorff ; Wonka ; Wonka and Haunss ). The literature so far has emphasised that congruence of policy preferences between members of the dyad, i.e.…”

Are Political Parties More Responsive to Advocacy Groups Mobilising Core Voters or Swing Voters? Political Responsiveness to Citizens' Protest Movements in Swedish Local Governments

“…, 1105; Hojnacki et al. , 394; Otjes & Rasmussen , 1–2). In making decisions, political parties require information about how unpredictable constituencies stand on different issues and the salience of the issues.…”

“…While a small number of studies analyse the factors that drive party–interest group collaboration (cf. Allern & Bale ; Otjes & Rasmussen ), we still do not know how party motivations shape the policy outcomes of interest groups.…”

Explaining the patterns of contacts between interest groups and political parties: Revising the standard model for populist times

“…Nevertheless, a recent wave of studies has resulted in what we call a 'standard model' in which party-interest group interaction is explained on the basis of the power of parties and the positional proximity between parties and groups (e.g. De Bruycker, 2016;Klüver, 2018;Marshall, 2015;Otjes and Rasmussen, 2017). First, interest groups are attracted to the power of parties.…”