The contingent character of interest groups-political parties’ interaction

This article examines the conditions under which interest groups interact with political parties. Existing research finds that interest group–political party interactions in most western democracies have become more open and contingent over time. The close ideological and formal organisational ties...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Chaqués Bonafont, Laura, Cristancho Mantilla, Camilo, Muñoz Márquez, Luz, Rincón García, Leire
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:España
Institución:Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Repositorio:Repositorio Digital de la UPF
OAI Identifier:oai:repositori.upf.edu:10230/46693
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10230/46693
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0143814X20000082
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Interest groups
Issue salience
Mainstream parties
Political parties
Spain
Descripción
Sumario:This article examines the conditions under which interest groups interact with political parties. Existing research finds that interest group–political party interactions in most western democracies have become more open and contingent over time. The close ideological and formal organisational ties that once characterised these relations have gradually been replaced by alternative, more pragmatic forms of cooperation. However, most of this research stresses the importance of the structural factors underpinning these links over time and across countries, but sheds little light on the factors driving short-term interest group–party interactions. Here, by drawing on survey data on Spanish interest groups obtained between December 2016 and May 2017, this article seeks to fill this gap by taking into account party status, issue salience and a group’s resources as explanatory variables. It shows that mainstream parties are the primary targets of interest groups, that groups dealing with salient issues are more likely to contact political parties and that the groups with most resources interact with a larger number of parties.