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The major objective of interest groups is to influence policy-making. Interest groups lobby decision-makers in order to shape political decisions in their favor. In order to understand the outcome of the policy-making process, it is crucial to take into account interest group pressure. In this seminar, we will therefore study the role of interest groups in Western democracies by investigating their mobilization, their lobbying strategies and their impact on policy decisions. The seminar covers a wide range of actors such as business groups, trade unions and non-governmental organizations and it sheds light on how these interest groups lobby decision-makers in a variety of selected countries. Students will be introduced to the theories of interest representation, they will learn about the methodological challenges in interest group research and they will get an overview of empirical studies of interest group lobbying across different policy areas and countries. |
