Hostname: page-component-68c7f8b79f-7wx25 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-01-01T22:42:44.638Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Studying Preference Attainment using Spatial Models

Part of: EUP EDITORIAL BOARD FULL ACCESS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2026

Matia Vannoni
Matia Vannoni*
Affiliation:
School of Public Policy, University College London, The Rubin Building, 29/31 Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9QU, UK
Get access

Abstract

Interest group influence represents the Higgs boson of contemporary social research. Scholars have tried to define and measure influence for decades: tens of different definitions are used in the literature and as many methods to measure it can be found. The literature has recently converged towards an agreement on how to study interest group influence: preference attainment. The latter has monopolised the research in the literature in the last years. Yet, a discussion on what preference attainment is, what it does and what it does not is still missing in the literature. This works aims to fill this gap by providing a theoretical and methodological informed discussion on interest group influence and preference attainment. In so doing, I propose a novel method to apply preference attainment in an effective and efficient manner.

Keywords

preference attainmentMDSinterest group influenceEUtobacco control

Information

Type
Symposium
Information
European Political Science , Volume 16 , Issue 3 , September 2017 , pp. 369 - 380
Copyright
Copyright © 2016 European Consortium for Political Research

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

Adamini, S., Versluis, E. and Maarse, H. (2011) ‘European policymaking on the tobacco advertising ban: The importance of escape routes’, Health Economics, Policy and Law 6(1): 65-84 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bakker, R., Jolly, S. and Polk, J. (2012) ‘Complexity in the European party space: Exploring dimensionality with experts’, European Union Politics 13(2): 219-245 CrossRefGoogle 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: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benoit, K. and Laver, M. (2012) ‘The dimensionality of political space: Epistemological and methodological considerations’, European Union Politics 13(2): 194-218 10.1177/1465116511434618CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bernhagen, P. (2012) ‘Who gets what in British politics – and how? An analysis of media reports on lobbying around government policies, 2001–7’, Political Studies 60(3): 557-577 10.1111/j.1467-9248.2011.00916.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bernhagen, P., Dür, A. and Marshall, D. (2014) ‘Measuring lobbying success spatially’, Interest Groups & Advocacy 3(2): 2047-7414 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bitton, A., Neuman, M. and Glantz, S. (2002) ‘Tobacco industry: Attempts to subvert european union tobacco advertising legislation’, Tobacco Control Policy Making: International, Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education: UC San Francisco.Google Scholar
Boessen, S. and Maarse, H. (2009) ‘A Ban on Tobacco Advertising: the Role of Interest Groups’, in Coen, D. and Richardson, J. (eds.) Lobbying in the European Union Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 212-232.Google Scholar
Brazill, T.J. and Grofman, B. (2002) ‘Factor analysis versus multi-dimensional scaling: Binary choice roll-call voting and the US supreme court’, Social Networks 24(3): 201-229 10.1016/S0378-8733(02)00004-7CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Budge, I. (2001) Mapping Policy Preferences: Estimates for Parties, Electors, and Governments, 1945–1998, Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bunea, A. and Ibenskas, R. (2016, this issue of European Political Science) ‘Estimating interest groups’ policy positions through content analysis: A discussion of automated and human-coding text analysis techniques applied to studies of EU lobbying’, European Political Science, doi: 10.1057/eps.2016.15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caimey, P. (2009) ‘The role of ideas in policy transfer: The case of UK smoking bans since devolution’, Journal of European Public Policy 16(3): 471-488 Google Scholar
Caimey, P., Studlar, D.T. and Mamudu, H.M. (2012) Global Tobacco Control: Power, Policy, Governance and Transfer, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Collier, D. (2011) ‘Understanding process tracing’, PS: Political Science & Politics 44(4): 823-830 Google Scholar
Collier, D., Brady, H.E. and Seawright, J. (2010a) ‘Outdated views of qualitative methods: Time to move on’, Political Analysis 18(4): 506-513 10.1093/pan/mpq022CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collier, D., Brady, H.E. and Seawright, J. (2010b) ‘Sources of Leverage in Causal Inference: Toward an Alternative View of Methodology’, in Brady, H.E. and Collier, D. (eds.) Rethinking Social Inquiry Diverse Tools, Shared Standards Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, pp. 229-266.Google Scholar
Costa, H., Gilmore, A.B., Peeters, S., McKee, M. and Stuckler, D. (2014) ‘Quantifying the influence of tobacco industry on EU governance: Automated content analysis of the EU Tobacco Products Directive’, Tobacco Control 23(6): 473-478 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
De Vries, C.E. and Marks, G. (2012) ‘The struggle over dimensionality: A note on theory and empirics’, European Union Politics 13(2): 185-193 10.1177/1465116511435712CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dür, A. (2008) ‘Bringing economic interests back into the study of EU trade policy-making’, The British Journal of Politics & International Relations 10(1): 27-45 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dür, A. (2008) ‘Measuring interest group influence in the EU: A note on methodology’, European Union Politics 9(4): 559-576 10.1177/1465116508095151CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dür, A. (2012) ‘Conceptualizing and measuring interest group influence’, Kristiansand Summer School on Interest Group Politics Group influence on policy agenda’s and political outcomes; Kristiansand Summer School on Interest Group Politics Group influence on policy agenda’s and political outcomes; 17–26 July; Kristiansand, Norway.Google Scholar
Frankenberg, G. (2004) ‘Between Paternalism and Voluntarism: Tobacco Consumption and Tobacco Control in Germany’, in Feldman, E.A. and Bayer, R. (eds.) Unfiltered: Conflicts Over Tobacco Policy and Public Health Cambridge: Harvard University Press, pp. 161-190.Google Scholar
Gabel, M.J. and Hix, S. (2002) ‘Defining the eu political space an empirical study of the european elections manifestos, 1979–1999’, Comparative Political Studies 35(8): 934-964 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gabel, M.J. and Huber, J.D. (2000) ‘Putting parties in their place: Inferring party left-right ideological positions from party manifestos data’, American Journal of Political Science 44(1): 94-103 10.2307/2669295CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gerring, J. (2008) ‘The mechanismic worldview: Thinking inside the box’, British Journal of Political Science 38(1): 161-179 10.1017/S0007123408000082CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilens, M. and Page, B.I. (2014) ‘Testing theories of American politics: Elites, interest groups, and average citizens’, Perspectives on Politics 12(3): 564-581 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldthorpe, J.H. (2001) ‘Causation, statistics, and sociology’, European Sociological Review 17(1): 1-20 10.1093/esr/17.1.1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gruning, T., Strunck, C. and Gilmore, A.B. (2008) ‘Puffing away? Explaining the politics of tobacco control in Germany’, German Politics 17(2): 140-164 10.1080/09644000802075708CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hausermann, S. (2006) ‘Changing coalitions in social policy reforms: The politics of new social needs and demands’, Journal of European Social Policy 16(1): 5-21 10.1177/0958928706059827CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hix, S., Noury, A. and Roland, G. (2006) ‘Dimensions of politics in the european parliament’, American Journal of Political Science 50(2): 494-520 10.1111/j.1540-5907.2006.00198.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hooghe, L., Marks, G. and Wilson, C.J. (2002) ‘Does left/right structure party positions on European integration?,’, Comparative Political Studies 35(8): 965-989 10.1177/001041402236310CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klingemann, H.D. (2006) Mapping Policy Preferences II: Estimates for Parties, Electors, and Governments in Eastern Europe, European Union, and OECD 1990–2003, Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klüver, H. (2009) ‘Measuring interest group influence using quantitative text analysis’, European Union Politics 10(4): 535-549 10.1177/1465116509346782CrossRefGoogle 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
Klüver, H. (2013) Lobbying in the European Union: Interest Groups, Lobbying Coalitions, and Policy Change, Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kruskal, J.B. (1964) ‘Multidimensional scaling by optimizing goodness of fit to a nonmetric hypothesis’, Psychometrika 29(1): 1-27 10.1007/BF02289565CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lipset, S.M. and Rokkan, S. (1967) Party Systems and Voter Alignments: Cross-National Perspectives, New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Mahoney, C. (2007) ‘Lobbying success in the United States and the European union’, Journal of Public Policy 27(1): 35-56 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mahoney, J. (2010) ‘After KKV: The new methodology of qualitative research’, World Politics 62(1): 120-147 10.1017/S0043887109990220CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marmor, T.R. and Lieberman, E.S. (2004) ‘Tobacco Control In Comparative Perspective: Eight Nations In Search Of An Explanation’, in Feldman, E.A. and Bayer, R. (eds.) Unfiltered: Conflicts Over Tobacco And Public Health, London: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
McCarty, N., Poole, K.T. and Rosenthal, H. (2008) Polarized America: The Dance of Ideology and Unequal Riches, Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Neuman, M., Bitton, A. and Glantz, S. (2002) ‘Tobacco industry strategies for influencing European Community tobacco advertising legislation’, The Lancet 359(9314): 1323-1330 10.1016/S0140-6736(02)08275-2CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Poole, K.T. and Rosenthal, H. (1997) Congress: A Political-Economic History of Roll Call Voting, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Poole, K.T. (2005) Spatial Models of Parliamentary Voting, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511614644CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rabinowitz, G.B. (1975) ‘An introduction to nonmetric multidimensional scaling’, American Journal of Political Science 19(2): 343-390 10.2307/2110441CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Studlar, D.T. (2010) ‘What explains the paradox of tobacco control policy under federalism in the U.S. and Canada? Comparative federalism theory versus multi-level governance’, Publius: The Journal of Federalism 40(3): 389-411 10.1093/publius/pjq003CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Studlar, D.T. (2007) ‘Ideas, institutions and diffusion: What explains tobacco control policy in Australia, Canada and New Zealand?,’, Commonwealth & Comparative Politics 45(2): 164-184 10.1080/14662040701317493CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Studlar, D.T. (2009) ‘Tobacco control policy in Western Europe: A case of protracted paradigm change’, in Capano, G. and Howlett, M. (eds.) Policy Dynamics and Policy Drivers: European and North American Experiences of Policy Change, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Thomson, R. (2011) Resolving Controversy in the European Union: Legislative Decision-Making Before and After Enlargement, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9781139005357CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomson, R., Arregui, J., Leuffen, D., Costello, R., Cross, J., Hertz, R. and Jensen, T. (2012) ‘A new dataset on decision-making in the european union before and after the 2004 and 2007 enlargements (DEUII)’, Journal of European Public Policy 19(4): 604-622 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomson, R., Stokman, F.N., Achen, C.H. and König, T. (2006) The European Union Decides, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511492082CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van der Eijk, C. and Rose, J. (2015) ‘Risky business: Factor analysis of survey data – Assessing the probability of incorrect dimensionalisation’, PLoS ONE 10(3): e0118900 10.1371/journal.pone.0118900 10.1371/journal.pone.0118900CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Voltolini, B. (2016, in this issue of European Political Science) ‘Framing processes and lobbying in EU foreign policy: Case study and process tracing methods’, European Political Science, doi: 10.1057/eps.2016.18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weisberg, H.F. (1974) ‘Dimensionland: An excursion into spaces’, American Journal of Political Science 18(4): 743-776 10.2307/2110558CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wessels, B. (2004) ‘Contestation Potential of Interest Groups in the EU: Emergence, Structure, and Political Alliances’, in Marks, G. and Steenbergen, M.R. (eds.) European Integration and Political Conflict, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Wessels, B. (2005) ‘Cleavages, Social Alliances, and the Structure of Interest Group Systems in Western Europe’, WZB Conference: Interest Groups, Policy and Economic Performance, WZB Conference: Interest Groups, Policy and Economic Performance, 5 November, Berlin: Free University of Berlin.Google Scholar
Yackee, J.W. and Yackee, S.W. (2006) ‘A bias towards business? Assessing interest group influence on the U.S. bureaucracy’, The Journal of Politics 68(1): 128-139 10.1111/j.1468-2508.2006.00375.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yackee, S.W. (2004) ‘Sweet-talking the fourth branch: The influence of interest group comments on federal agency rulemaking’, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 16(1): 103-124 10.1093/jopart/mui042CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yackee, S.W. (2006) ‘Assessing inter-institutional attention to and influence on government regulations’, British Journal of Political Science 36(4): 723-744 10.1017/S000712340600038XCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Vannoni supplementary material

Vannoni supplementary material 1
Download Vannoni supplementary material(File)
File 48.6 KB
Supplementary material: File

Vannoni supplementary material

Vannoni supplementary material 2
Download Vannoni supplementary material(File)
File 54.8 KB
Supplementary material: File

Vannoni supplementary material

Vannoni supplementary material 3
Download Vannoni supplementary material(File)
File 73.7 KB