Uncovering interest group participation in Germany: web collection of written statements in ministries and the parliament

Abstract

This article discusses web collection of interest group statements on bills as a data source. Written statements allow the identification of actors active in policy-making as well as those actors’ positions, lobbying coalitions and issue saliency. These data also can contribute to the measurement of interest groups’ influence on legislation. Taking web collection from the German parliament’s and ministries’ web pages as an example, we demonstrate the collection process and the merits and limitations of employing written statements as identificatory data. Our analysis of statements submitted by interest groups, private firms and policy experts to four federal ministries and the respective parliamentary committees in the years 2015 and 2016 reveals differences between parliamentary and ministerial consultations. Although ministries have invited written statements for fewer draft laws than parliamentary committees, they received far more statements from interest groups. The reason is that German ministries often issue open calls, in which all actors are given the opportunity to comment on legislation, whereas the German parliament invites selected interest group representatives and other experts. As a further result, ministries are mostly contacted by business groups, whereas parliamentary committees use their gatekeeper function to balance interests.

Introduction to the special issue on data sources for interest group research

“…Taking the case of Germany, Daniel Rasch, Florian Spohr, Rainer Eising, and Simon Ress provide a guide to using written interest group statements submitted to parliamentary committees and the corresponding ministries to identify participants in the advocacy process and identify their respective policy preferences (Rasch et al 2020). Although these data can be downloaded directly from governmental websites, the work then is far from over.…”