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Interest Representation (interest + representation)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Humanities and Social Sciences66%
Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting33%

Selected Abstracts

The Logic of Access to the European Parliament: Business Lobbying in the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs

JCMS: JOURNAL OF COMMON MARKET STUDIES, Issue 3 2004
Pieter Bouwen
This article is an attempt to test empirically a theory of access that investigates the logic behind the lobbying behaviour of business interests in the European Parliament. The theoretical framework tries to explain the degree of access of different organizational forms of business interest representation (companies, associations and consultants) to the supranational assembly in terms of a theory of the supply and demand of ,access goods'. On the basis of 14 exploratory and 27 semi-structured interviews, the hypotheses are checked in the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) of the European Parliament. Surprisingly, European and national associations enjoy a similar degree of access to the Parliament. Individual companies and consultants have a much lower degree of access than the two collective forms of interest representation. In the conclusion, these results are analysed in the light of the existing literature on party cohesion and coalition formation in the European Parliament. [source]

In the twilight of democracy: public affairs consultants in Switzerland

JOURNAL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, Issue 2 2009
Adrian Steiner
Modernization processes within different fields of political communication rise new challenges. Public affairs consultants are said to meet these challenges in both an effective and efficient way. Nevertheless, the rise of public affairs consultants also poses the question of their accordance with basic principles of modern democracy. Do public affairs consultants foster or impede the democratic process with respect to participation and representation? This question is answered on the basis of empirical data on public affairs consultants in Switzerland. The analysis points out three distinguishable fields of service: lobbying, political public relations and campaigning. Whereas campaigning has the strongest public-orientation and emphasizes direct democratic institutions, the other two fields tend to be more in the backstage of the public. Results regarding public affairs services suggest a structural discrepancy between public and non-public forms of communication, which according to normative democracy theory has to be judged critically. With view to clients, policy fields and party affiliations, the results show strong imbalances in interest representation, which seem to have mainly structural and economic reasons. In the conclusion, these results are discussed with view to the necessity of more transparency and a further professionalization. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

The Indian Movement and Political Democracy in Ecuador

LATIN AMERICAN POLITICS AND SOCIETY, Issue 3 2007
Leon Zamosc
ABSTRACT This article examines the implications of the Ecuadorian Indian movement for democratic politics. During the 1990s, the movement successfully fostered indigenous and popular participation in public life, influenced government policies, and became a contender in power struggles. But in the institutional domain, the participatory breakthrough had mixed effects. While the movement fulfilled functions of interest representation and control of state power, its involvement in a coup attempt demonstrated that its political socialization had not nurtured a sense of commitment to democracy. The evidence is discussed by reference to the proposition that civil society actors may or may not contribute to democracy. The article argues that the study of the democratic spinoffs of civil activism requires a context-specific approach that considers the particularistic orientations of civil associations and pays attention to their definition of means and ends, the institutional responses evoked by their initiatives, and the unintended consequences of their actions. [source]

Money, Elections, and Democracy in Brazil

LATIN AMERICAN POLITICS AND SOCIETY, Issue 2 2001
David Samuels
ABSTRACT Brazil,s 1993 law requiring candidates to report their campaign contributions has generated a new source of data to explore the supposition that Brazilian elections are extraordinarily expensive. An examination of these data from Brazil,s 1994 and 1998 general elections reveals that most money for Brazilian electoral campaigns comes from business sources and that leftist candidates have extremely limited access to such financing. The effect on democracy is that Brazil,s largely unregulated campaign finance system tends to decrease the scope of interest representation. [source]

German welfare organizations and the process of European integration

NONPROFIT MANAGEMENT & LEADERSHIP, Issue 3 2003
Chris Lange
The process of European integration affects an increasing number of areas of life. The influence of the European single market on the social sector, including organizations providing human services, can no longer be denied. This article looks at the activities of the European Commission toward these organizations and argues that European regulations are relevant to the German system of social service delivery due to the introduction of market-like features in the national context. Within this context, German welfare organizations have discovered an important field of interest representation and lobbying. [source]