Hostname: page-component-669899f699-ggqkh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-25T13:39:36.236Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Public opinion and interest groups’ concerns for organizational survival

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2019

Marcel Hanegraaff  and
Arlo Poletti
Marcel Hanegraaff
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of Amsterdam, Nieuwe Achtergracht, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Arlo Poletti*
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology and Social Research, University of Trento, Trento, Italy
*
*E-mail: arlo.poletti@unitn.it
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A growing number of studies focus on the two-way channels connecting public opinion and interest groups, highlighting how public support affects interest groups’ mobilization, strategies, and influence, while also showing how interest groups manage to shape public opinion. We contribute to this debate, assuming that interest groups are fundamentally survival-maximizing organizations. First, we investigate whether public opinion bears on advocacy groups’ assessment of their own survival prospects. Second, we assess whether public opinion-driven mortality anxiety affects advocacy groups’ choices regarding different lobbying strategies. Empirically, we rely on data from the Comparative Interest Group Survey, including over 2500 interest group respondents across six European Union (EU) countries as well as groups working at the EU level. Our analysis shows that (1) public opinion crucially influences how advocacy groups estimate their chances of survival, particularly for citizen groups and (2) public opinion-related survival concerns stimulate greater relative use of outside lobbying by citizen groups.

Keywords

lobbyinginterest groupsNGOssurvivalpublic opinion
Type
Research Article
Information
European Political Science Review , Volume 11 , Issue 2 , May 2019 , pp. 125 - 143
Copyright
© European Consortium for Political Research 2019 

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.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Andsager, J.L. (2000), ‘How interest groups attempt to shape public opinion with competing news frames’, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 77(3)” 577–592.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baumgartner, F.R., Berry, J.M., Hojnacki, M., Kimball, D.C. and Leech, B.L. (2009), Lobbying and Policy Change, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berkhout, J., Hanegraaff, M. and Braun, C. (2017), ‘Is the EU different? Comparing the diversity of national and EU-level systems of interest organisations’, West European Politics 40(5): 1109–1131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beyers, J. (2004), ‘Voice and access: the political practices of European interest associations’, European Union Politics 5(2): 211–240.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beyers, J. and De Bruycker, I. (2018), ‘Lobbying makes (strange) bedfellows: explaining the formation and composition of lobbying coalitions in EU Legislative Politics’, Political Studies 66(4): 959–984.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beyers, J. and Hanegraaff, M. (2017), ‘Balancing friends and foes: Explaining advocacy styles at global diplomatic conferences’, Review of International Organisations 12(3), 461–484.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Binderkrantz, A. (2008), ‘Different groups, different strategies: how interest groups pursue their political ambitions’, Scandinavian Political Studies 31(2): 173–200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bob, C. (2005), The Marketing of Rebellion: Insurgents, Media, and International Activism, New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Bruycker, I. (2017), ‘Politicization and the public interest: when do the elites in Brussels address public interests in EU policy debates?’ European Union Politics 18(4): 603–619.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Della Porta, D. and Diani, M. (1999), Social Movements: An Introduction, New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Denzau, A. and Munger, M. (1986), ‘Legislators and interest groups: how unorganized interests get represented’, The American Political Science Review 80(1): 89–106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dür, A. (2019), ‘How interest groups influence public opinion: arguments matter more than the sources’, European Journal of Political Research 58(2): 514–535.CrossRefGoogle 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 22(8): 1199–1217.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dür, A. and Mateo, G. (2016), Insiders Versus Outsiders: Interest Group Politics in Multilevel Europe, Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flöthe, L. and Rasmussen, A. (2019), ‘Public voices in the heavenly chorus? Group type bias and opinion representation’, Journal of European Public Policy 26(6): 824–842.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giger, N. and Klüver, H. (2016), ‘Voting against your constituents? How lobbying affects representation’, American Journal of Political Science 60(1): 190–205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gray, V. and Lowery, D. (1995), ‘The demography of interest organization communities: institutions, associations, and membership groups’, American Politics Quarterly 23: 3–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gray, V. and Lowery, D. (1997), ‘Life in a niche: mortality anxiety among organized interests in the American states,’ Political Research Quarterly 50(1): 25–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gray, V. and Lowery, D. (1998), To lobby alone or in a flock: foraging behavior among organized interests. American Politics Quarterly, 26(1): 5–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gray, V., Lowery, D., Fellowes, M. and McAtee, A. (2004), ‘Public opinion, public policy, and organized interests in the American states’, Political Research Quarterly 57(3): 411–420.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Halpin, D. and Jordan, G. (2009), ‘Interpreting environments: interest group response to population ecology pressures’, British Journal of Political Science 39: 243–265.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Halpin, D. and Jordan, G. (eds) (2012), The Scale of Interest Organization in Democratic Politics: Data and Research Methods, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Halpin, D., Lowery, D. and Gray, V. (eds) (2015), The Organization Ecology of Interest Communities: Assessment and Agenda, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Halpin, D. and Thomas, H.F. (2012), ‘Interest group survival: explaining sources of mortality anxiety. Interest Groups’, Interest Groups & Advocacy, 1(2): 215–238.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hanegraaff, M., Beyers, J. and De Bruycker, I. (2016), ‘Balancing inside and outside lobbying: the political strategies of lobbyists at global diplomatic conferences,’ European Journal of Political Research 55(3): 568–588.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hanegraaff, M., Poletti, A. and Beyers, J. (2017), ‘Explaining varying lobbying styles across the Atlantic: an empirical test of the cultural and institutional explanations’, Journal of Public Policy 37(4): 459–486.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hansen, W.L., Mitchell, N.J. and Drope, J.M. (2005), ‘The logic of private and collective action’, American Journal of Political Science, 49(1): 150–167.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holyoke, T.T. (2003), ‘Choosing battlegrounds: interest group lobbying across multiple venues’, Political Research Quarterly 56(3): 325–336.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Imig, D. (1992), ‘Survival, resource mobilization and survival tactics of poverty advocacy groups’, Western Political Quarterly 45: 501–520.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jordan, G. and Greenan, J. (2012), ‘The changing contours of British representation: pluralism in practice’, in GJordan, . and DHalpin, . (eds), The Scale of Interest Organization in Democratic Politics: Data and Research Methods, London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 67–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klüver, H. (2011), ‘The contextual nature of lobbying: explaining lobbying success in the European Union’, European Union Politics 12(4): 483–506.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kollman, K. (1998), Outside Lobbying: Public Opinion and Interest Group Strategies. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Lowery, D. (2007), ‘Why do organize interests lobby? A multi-goal, multi-context theory of lobbying’, Polity 39(1): 29–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lowery, D. (2013), ‘Lobbying influence: meaning, measurement and missing’, Interest Groups & Advocacy 2(1): 1–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marchetti, K. (2015), ‘The use of surveys in interest group research’, Interest Groups & Advocacy 4(3): 272–282.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nownes, A.J. (2004), ‘The population ecology of interest group formation: mobilizing for gay and lesbian rights in the United States, 1950–98’, British Journal of Political Science 34(1): 49–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rasmussen, A., Carroll, B.J. and Lowery, D. (2014), ‘Representatives of the public? Public opinion and interest group activity’, European Journal of Political Research 53(2): 250–268.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rasmussen, A., Mäder, L.K. and Reher, S. (2018), ‘With a little help from the people? The role of public opinion in advocacy success’, Comparative Political Studies 5(12): 139–164.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, M.A. (2000), American Business and Political Power: Political Opinion, Elections and Democracy, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weiler, F. and Brändli, M. (2015), ‘Inside versus outside lobbying: how the institutional framework shapes the lobbying behaviour of interest groups’, European Journal of Political Research 54(4): 745–766.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Hanegraaff and Poletti supplementary material

Hanegraaff and Poletti supplementary material 1

Download Hanegraaff and Poletti supplementary material(File)
File 82 KB