Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T19:09:57.678Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Party–group interactions in Southern Europe: evidence from an expert survey

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 May 2021

Marco Lisi Open the ORCID record for Marco Lisi [Opens in a new window]
Marco Lisi*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Studies, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Av. de Berna, 26-C, 1069-061Lisbon, Portugal
*
Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

Despite the development of empirical research on the relations between parties and interest groups, the topic is still understudied and presents several shortcomings. On the one hand, this relationship has been studied mostly from the political parties' point of view. On the other, there is a lack of consensus regarding the determinants of party–group connection. This study aims to advance our knowledge on the topic by examining the relationship between interest groups and political parties in Southern European countries (Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain). By relying on new data collected through an expert survey, we focus specifically on the strength of the linkage established between parties and interest groups, as well as their determinants. The results suggest that there is a great variation in party–group links, which is explained mostly by party characteristics, namely the type of parties, ideology, and their electoral strength.

Keywords

expert surveyinterest groupsparty–group linkagepolitical partiespolitical representationSouthern Europe
Type
Research Article
Information
Italian Political Science Review / Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica , Volume 52 , Issue 1 , March 2022 , pp. 101 - 117
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Società Italiana di Scienza Politica

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Afonso, A, Zartaloudis, S and Papadopoulos, Y (2015) How party linkages shape austerity politics: clientelism and fiscal adjustment in Greece and Portugal during the Eurozone crisis. Journal of European Public Policy 22, 315–334.10.1080/13501763.2014.964644CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aguilar, S (2020) Interest groups, business associations, and trade unions. In Muro, D and Lago, I (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Spanish Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 429–444.Google Scholar
Allern, EH (2010) Political Parties and Interest Groups in Norway. London: ECPR press.Google Scholar
Allern, EH and Bale, T (2012) Political parties and interest groups: disentangling complex relationships. Party Politics 18, 7–25.10.1177/1354068811422639CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allern, EH and Bale, T (eds) (2017) Left-of-Centre Parties and Trade Unions in the Twenty-First Century. Oxford: OUP.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198790471.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allern, EH and Verge, T (2017) Still connecting with society? Political parties’ formal links with social groups in the twenty-first century. In Scarrow, SE, Webb, PD and Poguntke, T (eds) Organizing Political Parties Representation, Participation, and Power. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 106–135.Google Scholar
Allern, EH, Bale, T and Otjes, S (2017) Variations in party–union relationships explanations and implications. In Allern, EH and Bale, T (eds). Left-of-Centre Parties and Trade Unions in the Twenty-First Century. Oxford: OUP, pp. 310–341.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198790471.003.0016CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allern, EH, Otjes, S, Poguntke, T, Hansen, VW, Saurugger, S and Marshall, D (2020) Conceptualizing and measuring party-interest group relationships. Party Politics. doi:10.1177/1354068820949393.Google Scholar
Barberà, O, Barrio, A and Rodríguez-Teruel, J (2019) New parties’ linkages with external groups and civil society in Spain: a preliminary assessment. Mediterranean Politics 24, 646–664.10.1080/13629395.2018.1428146CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beyers, J, Eising, R and Maloney, W (2008) Researching interest group politics in Europe and elsewhere: much we study, little we know? West European Politics 31, 1103–1128.10.1080/01402380802370443CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beyers, J, De Bruycker, I and Baller, I (2015) The alignment of parties and interest groups in EU legislative politics. Journal of European Public Policy 22: 534–51.10.1080/13501763.2015.1008551CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Binderkrantz, AS, Christiansen, PM and Pedersen, HH (2015) Interest group access to the bureaucracy, Parliament, and the Media. Governance 28, 95–112.10.1111/gove.12089CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bolleyer, N (2018) The State and Civil Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/oso/9780198758587.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bordignon, F and Ceccarini, L (2013) Five stars and a cricket. Beppe Grillo Shakes Italian politics. South European Society and Politics 18, 427–449.10.1080/13608746.2013.775720CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bosco, A and Verney, S (2017) Crisis Elections, New Contenders and Government Formation: Breaking the Mould in Southern Europe. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Casal Bertoa, F (2019) The calm before the storm: explaining the institutionalization of Southern European party systems before the great recession. European Politics and Society 20, 567–590.10.1080/23745118.2018.1557446CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Celis, K and Mügge, LM (2018) Whose equality? Measuring group representation. Politics 38, 197–213.10.1177/0263395716684527CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Celis, K, Schouteden, A and Wauters, B (2016) Cleavage, ideology and identity. Explaining the linkage between representatives and interest groups. Parliamentary Affairs 69, 348–365.10.1093/pa/gsv040CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chaqués-Bonafont, L and Muñoz Márquez, L (2016) Explaining interest group access to parliamentary committees. West European Politics 39, 1276–1298.10.1080/01402382.2016.1184862CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chaqués-Bonafont, L, Cristancho, C, Muñoz-Márquez, L and Rincón L et al. (2020) The contingent character of interest groups–political parties’ interaction. Journal of Public Policy. doi: 10.1017/S0143814X20000082.Google Scholar
Charalambous, G and Lamprianou, I (2016) Societal responses to the post-2008 economic crisis among South European and Irish radical left parties: continuity or change and why? Government and Opposition 51, 261–293.10.1017/gov.2014.35CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dalton, RJ and Wattenberg, M (eds) (2000) Parties Without Partisans. Political Change in Advanced Industrial Democracies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
De Waele, J-M, Escalona, F and Vieira, M (eds) (2013) The Palgrave Handbook of Social Democracy in the European Union. London: Palgrave Macmillan.10.1057/9781137293800CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eising, R and Cini, M (1997) Desintegration or reconfiguration? Organized interests in Western Europe. In Heywood, P, Jones, E and Rhodes, M (eds) Developments in West European Politics. London: Palgrave, pp. 168–183.Google Scholar
Fraussen, B and Halpin, DR (2018) Political parties and interest organizations at the crossroads: perspectives on the transformation of political organizations. Political Studies Review 16, 25–37.10.1177/1478929916644868CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gabel, MJ and Huber, JD (2000) Putting parties in their place: inferring party left-right ideological positions from party manifestos data. American Journal of Political Science 44, 94–103.10.2307/2669295CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gunther, R and Montero, JR (2001) The anchors of partisanship. In Diamandouros, PN and Gunther, R (eds) Parties, Politics, and Democracy in the New Southern Europe. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 83–152.Google Scholar
Heaney, MT (2010) Linking political parties and interest groups. In Berry, JM and Maisel, LS (eds). The Oxford Handbook of American Political Parties and Interest Groups. Oxford: OUP, pp. 568–587.Google Scholar
Huber, J and Inglehart, R (1995) Expert interpretations of party space and party locations in 42 societies. Party Politics 1, 73–111.10.1177/1354068895001001004CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hutter, S and Kriesi, H (2019) European Party Politics in Times of Crisis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/9781108652780CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jalali, C, Silva, P and Silva, S (2012) Givers and takers: parties, state resources and civil society in Portugal. Party Politics 18, 61–80.10.1177/1354068811422643CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Katz, RS and Mair, P (1995) Changing models of party organization and party democracy: the emergence of the cartel party. Party Politics 1, 5–28.10.1177/1354068895001001001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Katz, RS and Mair, P (2018) Democracy and the Cartelization of Political Parties. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/oso/9780199586011.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kirchheimer, O (1966) The transformation of the Western European Party systems. In La Palombara, J and Weiner, M (eds). Political Parties and Political Development. Princeton: Princeton University Press, pp. 177–200.10.1515/9781400875337-007CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lanza, O and Lavdas, KA (2000) The disentanglement of interest politics: business associability, the parties and policy in Italy and Greece. European Journal of Political Research 37, 203–235.10.1111/1475-6765.00510CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lehmbruch, G and Schmitter, PC (eds) (1982) Patterns of Corporatist Policy-Making. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Lisi, M (ed.) (2019 a) Party System Change, the European Crisis and the State of Democracy. Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
Lisi, M (2019 b) Party-group relations in new Southern European democracies in the crisis era. Mediterranean Politics 24: 592–604.10.1080/13629395.2018.1428147CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lisi, M and Loureiro, J (2019) Employer preferences and political alignments during the Eurocrisis: evidence from the Portuguese case. Business and Politics 21: 385–414.10.1017/bap.2019.7CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lisi, M and Oliveira, R (2020) Standing alone? Towards a more unified view of party–group relations in contemporary democracies. European Review. doi: 10.1017/S1062798720001003.Google Scholar
Lizzi, R (2014) Party-group disentanglement in the Italian case: an introduction. Contemporary Italian Politics 6, 238–248.10.1080/23248823.2014.964051CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lizzi, R and Pritoni, A (2017) The size and shape of the Italian interest system between the 1980s and the present day. Italian Political Science Review/Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica 47, 291–312.10.1017/ipo.2017.3CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lizzi, R and Pritoni, A (2019) Lobbying in tempi difficili. Gruppi di interesse e policy-making nell'Italia della disintermediazione. Rivista Italiana di Politiche Pubbliche 2,157–80.Google Scholar
Mach, A (2015) Groupes d'intérêt et Pouvoir Politique. Lausanne: Presses polytechniques et universitaires romandes.Google Scholar
Mattina, L and Carrieri, M (2017) Left-of-centre parties and trade unions in Italy. In Allern, EH and Bale, T (eds) Left-of-Centre Parties and Trade Unions in the Twenty-First Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 170–185.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198790471.003.0009CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mavrogordatos, GT (2009) Models of Party-Interest Group Relations and the Uniqueness of the Greek Case. Paper presented at the ECPR Joint Sessions, Lisbon (14–19 April 2009).Google Scholar
Molina, O and Rhodes, M (2007) The political economy of adjustment in mixed market economies: A study of Spain and Italy. In Hancké, B, Rhodes, M and Thatcher, M (eds) Beyond Varieties of Capitalism: Conflict, Contra- Dictions and Complementarities in the European Economy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 223–252.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199206483.003.0008CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Molins, JM, Muñoz Márquez, L and Medina, I (eds) (2016) Los Grupos de Interés en España. Madrid: Editorial Tecnos.Google Scholar
Morlino, L (ed.) (1991) Costruire La Democrazia. Gruppi e Partiti Nel Consolidamento Democratico in Italia. Bologna: Il Mulino.Google Scholar
Morlino, L (1998) Democracy Between Consolidation and Crisis. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/0198280823.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mosca, L (2014) The five star movement: exception or vanguard in Europe? The International Spectator: Italian Journal of International Affairs 49, 36–52.10.1080/03932729.2013.875821CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moschonas, G (2001) In the Name of Social Democracy. London: Verso.Google Scholar
Otjes, S and Rasmussen, A (2017) The collaboration between interest groups and political parties in multi-party democracies: party system dynamics and the effect of power and ideology. Party Politics 23, 96–109.10.1177/1354068814568046CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peters, BG (2018) The Politics of Bureaucracy: An Introduction to Comparative Public Administration. Abingdon: Routledge.10.4324/9781315813653CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poguntke, T (2002) Party organizational linkage: Parties without firm social roots? In Luther, KR and Müller-Rommel, F (eds) Political Parties in the New Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 43–62.Google Scholar
Poguntke, T. (2006) Political parties and other organizations. In Katz, RS and Crotty, W (eds). Handbook of Party Politics. London: SAGE, pp. 396–405.10.4135/9781848608047.n34CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pritoni, A (2015) How to measure interest group influence: Italy's professional orders and liberalization policy. Italian Political Science Review/Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica 45, 183–202.10.1017/ipo.2015.10CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pritoni, A (2018) Lobby d'Italia. Il Sistema Degli Interessi Tra Prima eSeconda Repubblica. Milano: Carocci.Google Scholar
Puhle, H-J (2001) Mobilizers and late modernizers. In Diamandouros, PN and Gunther, R (eds) Parties, Politics, and Democracy in the New Southern Europe. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 268–328.Google Scholar
Rasmussen, A (2012) Interest group–party interaction in EU politics. Party Politics 18, 81–98.10.1177/1354068811422646CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rasmussen, A and Lindeboom, G (2013) Interest group–party linkage in the twenty-first century: evidence from Denmark, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. European Journal of Political Research 52, 264–289.10.1111/j.1475-6765.2012.02069.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Razzuoli, I and Raimundo, F (2019) Party-interest group relations in Portugal. Organizational linkages and party strategies (2008–2015). Mediterranean Politics 24, 626–645.10.1080/13629395.2018.1428152CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rhodes, RAW (1997) Understanding Governance: Policy Networks, Governance, Reflexivity and Accountability. London: Open University Press.Google Scholar
Richardson, JJ (ed.) (1993) Pressure Groups. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Römmele, A, Farrell, DM and Ignazi, P (eds) (2005) Political Parties and Political Systems: The Concept of Linkage Revisited. Westport (CT): Praeger.Google Scholar
Schattschneider, EE (1948) Pressure groups versus political parties. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 259(1), 17–23.10.1177/000271624825900104CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmitter, PC (1992) Interest systems and the consolidation of democracies. In Marks, G and Diamond, L (eds) Reexamining Democracy. Newbury Park: Sage, pp. 156–181.Google Scholar
Schmitter, PC (1995) Organized interests and democratic consolidation in Southern Europe. In Gunther, R, Diamandorous, NP and Puhle, H-J (eds) The Politics of Democratic Consolidation. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 284–314.Google Scholar
Sotiropoulos, DA (2007) Old problems and new challenges: The enduring and changing functions of southern European state bureaucracies. In Gunther, R, Diamandorous, NP and Sotiropoulos, DA (eds). Democracy and the State in the New Southern Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 197–234.Google Scholar
Sotiropoulos, DA (2019) Political party–interest group linkages in Greece before and after the onset of the economic crisis. Mediterranean Politics 24, 605–625.10.1080/13629395.2018.1428149CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sotiropoulos, DA (2020) State-Society relations in Greece. In Sotiropoulos, DA and Featherstone, K (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Modern Greek Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 38–53.Google Scholar
Thomas, CS (ed.) (2001) Political Parties and Interest Groups: Shaping Democratic Governance. Boulder: Lynne Rienner.Google Scholar
Tronconi, F (ed.) (2015) Beppe Grillo's Five Star Movement. Farnham: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Tsakatika, M and Lisi, M (2013) ‘Zippin’ up my boots, goin’ back to my roots’: radical left parties in Southern Europe. South European Society & Politics 18, 1–19.10.1080/13608746.2012.758447CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Biezen, I and Poguntke, T (2014) The decline of membership-based politics. Party Politics 20, 205–216.10.1177/1354068813519969CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Biezen, I, Mair, P and Poguntke, T (2012) Going, Going, … Gone? Party membership in the 21st century. European Journal of Political Research 51, 24–56.10.1111/j.1475-6765.2011.01995.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verge, T (2012) Party strategies towards civil society in new democracies: the Spanish case. Party Politics 18, 45–60.10.1177/1354068811422648CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yishai, Y (2001) Land of Paradoxes. Interest Politics in Israel. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: Link

Lisi Dataset

Dataset

http://thedata.harvard.edu/dvn/dv/ipsr-risp
Link
Supplementary material: File

Lisi supplementary material

Online Appendix

Download Lisi supplementary material(File)
File 16.4 KB