Political activities of interest organizations: Conflicting interests, converging strategies.

Abstract

Why

do interest organizations do what they do? Organized political activities

could find their basis in the desire for organizational survival.

Alternatively, the activities of interest organizations may be mainly understood in relation to government institutions and public policy. Last, the key rationale for political activities could be seen to relate to certain political principles more generally. Taking account of these contrasting assumptions, this thesis takes an exchange theoretical perspective and examines the activities EU and Dutch interest organizations (n=517) and political claims in the newspaper in seven European countries (n=approx 3000). The key findings are that (1) business interests seem better represented than other types of interests, (2) different types of interests (i.e. NGO⦣8364;™s, businesses, social interests, citizen groups) use very similar tactics to seek influence on public policy, and (3) interest organizations seem to have difficulty in getting access in the news media because ⦣8364;˜official sources⦣8364;™ seem to be preferred by journalists. These and other findings call for an adjustment of some of the classic assumptions in the field of interest group research ⦣8364;“ among others on differences between interests and across systems. It calls for improved theories on variation in political strategies between issues.