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 and they will get an overview of empirical studies of interest group lobbying across different policy areas and countries. Students will learn how to craft their own research project to study interest group influence on policy-making employing cutting-edge research methods such as quantitative text analysis and causal inference. As the course is focused on quantitative empirical research, having advanced statistical training is advised. Familiarity with the statistical software package R is recommended.
Zoom-Meeting beitreten: https://hu-berlin.zoom.us/j/67135257476?pwd=alp1TVZUV2ZabWwvd0lJRzMzVExhdz09
Meeting-ID: 671 3525 7476
Passwort: lobby2020 |
