Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T03:59:37.389Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Explaining varying lobbying styles across the Atlantic: an empirical test of the cultural and institutional explanations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2016

Marcel Hanegraaff ,
Arlo Poletti  and
Jan Beyers
Marcel Hanegraaff
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands Department of Political Science, University of Antwerp, Belgium E-mail: [email protected]
Arlo Poletti
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science and School of Government, LUISS Guido Carli, Italy E-mail: [email protected]
Jan Beyers
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of Antwerp, Belgium E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

There is consensus in the literature that policymaking in the United States (US) and Europe generates different lobbying styles. Two explanations for these differences have been developed so far. The first posits that distinct lobbying styles reflect different political cultures. The second attributes distinct lobbying styles to variation in the institutional context in which lobbyists operate. Studies that have analysed lobbying within the US and Europe and assessed the relative importance of these arguments are problematic because both explanations are consistent with observed differences in lobbying style. In this article, we circumvent problems of observational equivalence by focussing on European and American lobbyists who are active in a similar institutional venue – that is, international diplomatic conferences. Relying on evidence collected at World Trade Organization Ministerial Conferences and United Nation Climate Summits, we tested the relevance of alternative explanations for the variation in lobbying styles between European and American lobbyists. Our results give robust support to the institutional argument.

Keywords

Europelobbyingtransnational advocacyUnited States
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Public Policy , Volume 37 , Issue 4 , December 2017 , pp. 459 - 486
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press, 2016 

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

Aaronson, S. A. (2001) Taking Trade to the Streets. The Lost History of Public Efforts to Shape Globalisation. Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Austen-Smith, D. and Wright, J. (1994) Counteractive Lobbying. American Journal of Political Science 38(1): 25–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barakso, M. (2010) Brand Identity and the Tactical Repertoires of Advocacy Organizations. In Prakash A. and Gugerty M. K. (eds.), Advocacy Organizations and Collective Action. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 155–176.Google Scholar
Baumgartner, F. and Mahoney, C. (2002) Gaining Government Allies: Groups, Officials, and Alliance Behavior. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, Illinois, April 25–28.Google Scholar
Baumgartner, F. and Mahoney, C. (2014) Partners in Advocacy: Lobbyists and Government Officials in Washington. Journal of Politics 77(1): 202–215.Google Scholar
Baumgartner, F. R., Berry, J. M., Hojnacki, M., Leech, B. L. and Kimball, D. C. (2009) Lobbying and Policy Change: Who Wins, Who Loses, and Why? Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Betsill, M. and Corell, E. (2001) NGO Influence in International Environmental Negotiations: A Framework for Analysis. Global Environmental Politics 1(4): 65–85.Google Scholar
Beyers, J. (2004) Voice and Access. The Political Practices of European Interest Associations. European Union Politics 5(2): 211–240.Google Scholar
Beyers, J. and Hanegraaff, M. C. (2014) Lobbying Friends or Foes? The Importance of Group Type, Issue-Context and Institutional Embeddedness. Paper presented at ECPR General Conference, Glasgow, UK.Google Scholar
Binderkrantz, A. (2005) Interest Group Strategies: Navigating Between Privileged Access and Strategies of Pressure. Political Studies 53(4): 694–715.Google Scholar
Bob, C. (2005) The Marketing of Rebellion: Insurgents, Media, and International Activism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bouwen, P. (2004) Exchanging Access Goods for Access: A Comparative Study of Business Lobbying in the European Union Institutions. European Journal of Political Research 43(3): 337–369.Google Scholar
Broscheid, A. and Coen, D. (2003) Insider and Outsider Lobbying in the European Commission. European Union Politics 4(2): 165–189.Google Scholar
Coen, D. (1998) The European Business Interest and the Nation State: Large-Firm Lobbying in the European Union and Member States. Journal of Public Policy 18(1): 75–100.Google Scholar
Cowles, M. G. (1996) The EU Committee of AmCham: The Powerful Voice of American Business in Brussels. Journal of European Public Policy 3(3): 339–358.Google Scholar
Culpepper, P. (2011) Quiet Politics and Business Power: Corporate Control in Europe and Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Dexter, L. (1969) How Organizations are Represented in Washington. Indianapolis, IN: Bobbs-Merrill.Google Scholar
Dür, A. and Mateo, G. (2013) Gaining Access or Going Public? Interest Group Strategies in Five European Countries. European Journal of Political Research 52(5): 660–686.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dür, A. and Mateo, G. (2014) Public Opinion and Interest Group Influence: How Citizen Groups Derailed the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. Journal of European Public Policy 21(8): 1199–1217.Google Scholar
Eising, R. (2003) Interest Groups: Opportunity Structures and Governance Capacity. In Dyson K. and Goetz K. (eds.), Germany, Europe and the Politics of Constraint. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 147–172.Google Scholar
Eising, R. (2004) Multilevel Governance and Business Interests in the European Union. Governance 17(2): 211–246.Google Scholar
Eising, R. (2007) The Access of Business Interests to EU Institutions: Towards Elite Pluralism? Journal of European Public Policy 14(3): 384–403.Google Scholar
Falkner, G. (2000) Policy Networks in a Multilevel System: Convergence Towards Moderate Diversity. West European Politics 23(4): 94–120.Google Scholar
Finner, H. and M., Roters (2002) Multiple Hypotheses Testing and Expected Number of Type I Errors. The Annals of Statistics 30(1): 220–238.Google Scholar
Gardner, J. N. (1991) Effective Lobbying in the European Community. Deventer, the Netherlands: Kluwer Law.Google Scholar
Grande, E. (1996) The State and Interest Groups in a Framework of Multi-Level Decision-Making: The Case of the European Union. Journal of European Public Policy 3(3): 318–338.Google Scholar
Greenwood, J. (1997) Representing Interests in the European Union. New York: St. Martin’s Press.Google Scholar
Greenwood, J. (2003) Interest Representation in the European Union. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Gruning, T., Struanck, C. and Gilmore, A. (2008) Puffing Away? Explaining the Politics of Tobacco Control in Germany. German Politics 17(2): 140–164.Google Scholar
Hadden, J. (2015) Networks in Contention. The Divisive Politics of Climate Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hall, R. and Deardorff, A. (2006) Lobbying as a Legislative Subsidy. American Political Science Review 100(1): 69–84.Google Scholar
Hanegraaff, M. C. (2015) Interest Groups at Transnational Conferences: Goals, Strategies, Interactions and Influence. Global Governance 21(4): 599–620.Google Scholar
Hanegraaff, M. C., De Bruycker, I. and Beyers, J. (2016) Balancing Inside and Outside Lobbying the Political Strategies of Lobbyists at Global Diplomatic Conferences. European Journal of Political Research (in press).Google Scholar
Hojnacki, M. (1997) Interest Groups’ Decisions to Join Alliances or Work Alone. American Journal of Political Science 41(1): 61–87.Google Scholar
Hojnacki, M. and Kimball, D. (1998) Organized Interest and the Decision Whom to Lobby in Congress. American Political Science Review 92(4): 775–790.Google Scholar
Hojnacki, M. and Kimball, D. (1999) The Who and How of Organizations Lobbying Strategies in Committee. Journal of Politics 61(4): 999–1024.Google Scholar
Holyoke, T. (2003) Choosing Battlegrounds: Interest Group Lobbying Across Multiple Venues. Political Research Quarterly 56(3): 325–336.Google Scholar
Jordan, G., McLaughlin, A. and Maloney, W. (1993) Corporate Lobbying in the European Community. Journal of Common Market Studies 31(2): 191–213.Google Scholar
Klüver, H. (2012) Lobbying in the European Union: Interest Groups, Lobbying Coalitions, and Policy Change. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kollman, K. (1997) Inviting Friends to Lobby: Interest Groups, Ideological Bias, and Congressional Committees. American Journal of Political Science 41(2): 519–544.Google Scholar
Kollman, K. (1998) Outside Lobbying: Public Opinion and Interest Group Strategies. New Jersey: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Kriesi, H., Tresch, A. and Jochum, M. (2007) Going Public in the European Union. Action Repertoires of Western European Collective Political Actors. Comparative Political Studies 40(1): 48–73.Google Scholar
Lowery, D. (2007) Why Do Organized Interests Lobby? A Multi-Goal, Multi-Context Theory of Lobbying. Polity 39(1): 29–54.Google Scholar
Lowery, D., Poppelaars, C. and Berkhout, J. (2008) The European Union Interest System in Comparative Perspective: A Bridge too Far? West European Politics 31(6): 1231–1252.Google Scholar
Mahoney, C. (2007a) Networking vs. Allying: The Decision of Interest Groups to Join Coalitions in the US and the EU. Journal of European Public Policy 14(2): 366–383.Google Scholar
Mahoney, C. (2007b) Lobbying success in the United States and the European Union. Journal of Public Policy 27(1): 35–56.Google Scholar
Mahoney, C. (2008) Brussels Versus the Beltway: Advocacy in the United States and the European Union. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Mahoney, C. and Baumgartner, F. (2008) Converging Perspectives on Interest Group Research in Europe and America. West European Politics 31(6): 1253–1273.Google Scholar
Marshall, D. (2015) Explaining Interest Group Interactions with Party Group Members in the European Parliament: Dominant Party Groups and Coalition Formation. Journal of Common Market Studies 53(2): 311–329.Google Scholar
Mazey, S. and Richardson, J. (1993) Lobbying in the European Community. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
McGrath, C. (2002) Comparative Lobbying Practices: Washington, London, Brussels. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Political Studies Association, Aberdeen, UK.Google Scholar
McGrath, C. (2005) Lobbying in Washington, London and Brussels: The Persuasive Communication of Political Ideas. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press.Google Scholar
Milbrath, L. (1963) The Washington Lobbyists. Chicago, IL: Rand McNally.Google Scholar
Muñoz-Cabré, M. (2011) Issue-Linkages to Climate Change Measured Through NGO Participation in the UNFCCC. Global Environmental Politics 11(3): 10–22.Google Scholar
Rommetvedt, H., Thesen, G., Christiansen, P. M. and Nørgaard, A. S. (2014) Coping with Corporatism in Decline and the Revival of Parliament: Interest Group Lobbyism in Denmark and Norway, 1980–2005. Comparative Political Studies 46(4): 457–485.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Streeck, W. and Schmitter, P. C. (1991) From National Corporatism to Transnational Pluralism: Organized Interest in the Single European Market. Politics and Society 19(2): 133–164.Google Scholar
Tacq, J. (1997) Multivariate Analysis Techniques in Social Science Research. From Problem to Analysis. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Thomas, C. and Hrebenar, R. (2009) Comparing Lobbying Across Liberal Democracies: Problems, Approaches and Initial Findings. Journal of Comparative Politics 2(1): 131–142.Google Scholar
Thomas, C. S. (2002) U.S. Interest Groups Operating in the European Union: Is There a Transatlantic Lobbying Culture? Transatlantic Studies Association. Paper presented at The Transatlantic Studies Association Conference, 8–11 July 2002, The University of Dundee, Scotland.Google Scholar
Thomas, C. S. (2004) Research Guide to U.S. and International Interest Groups. Westport, CT: Praeger.Google Scholar
Traxler, F. and Schmitter, P. C. (1995) The Emerging Euro-Polity and Organized Interests. European Journal of International Relations 1(2): 191–218.Google Scholar
Woll, C. (2006) Lobbying in the European Union: From Sui Generis to a Comparative Perspective. Journal of European Public Policy 13(3): 456–469.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woll, C. (2012) The Brash and the Soft Spoke: Lobbying Styles in a Transatlantic Comparison. Interest Groups and Advocacy 1(2): 192–214.Google Scholar
Zeigler, H. (1964) Interest Groups in American Society. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Hanegraaff supplementary material

Online Appendix 1A

Download Hanegraaff supplementary material(File)
File 18.8 KB