This article studies contacts between interest groups and political parties. Existing research suggests that times of close and formal cooperation between parties and groups in Western Europe are over as the contacts have become more pragmatic and sometimes spontaneous. Studies usually point to ideological proximity and resource exchange as the main factors behind contacts, however, focusing mainly on parties’ power and ideological position. Here, by drawing on data from Poland, Slovenia, and Lithuania, we focus on young democracies from Eastern Europe by taking into account interest groups’ resources, their typology, and the system of interest groups’ representation. The article shows that financial resources are the main factor behind seeking contacts with the large number of political parties.
AllernEH (2010) Political Parties and Interest Groups in Norway. Colchester: ECPR Press.
2.
AllernEHBaleT (2012) Political Parties and Interest Groups: Disentangling Complex Relationships. Party Politics18 (1): 7–25.
3.
AllernEHAylottNChristiansenFJ (2007) Social Democrats and trade unions in Scandinavia: The decline and persistence of institutional relationships. European Journal of Political Research46 (5): 607–635.
4.
AllernEHKlüverHMarshallD, et al. (2021a) Policy Positions, Power and Interest Group-Party Lobby Routines. Journal of European Public Policy1–20.
5.
AllernEHOtjesSPoguntkeT, et al. (2021b) Conceptualizing and Measuring Group Party-Interest Relationships. Party Politics27: 1254–1267.
6.
BaroniLCarrollBJChalmersAW, et al. (2014) Defining and Classifying Interest Groups. Interest Groups & Advocacy3 (2): 141–159.
7.
BartoliniS (2005) Restructuring Europe: Centre Formation, System Building, and Political Structuring between the Nation State and the European Union. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
8.
BaumgartnerFRJonesBD (2010) Agendas and Instability in American Politics. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
9.
BerkhoutJHanegraaffMStatschP (2021) Explaining the Patterns of Contacts between Interest Groups and Political Parties: Revising the Standard Model for Populist Times. Party Politics27 (3): 418–429.
10.
BiezenIVKopeckýP (2014) The cartel party and the state: Party–state linkages in European democracies. Party Politics20 (2): 170–182.
11.
BeyersJHeylenF (2017) Ideology and Power. Explaining the Interactions between Political Parties and Interest Organizations in Five Polities. Unpublished Manuscript.
12.
BeyersJBernhagenPBraunC, et al. (2016) Comparative Interest Group Survey Questionnaire. Antwerp: University of Antwerp.
13.
BeyersJBraunCHaverlandM (2014) Plus ça change, plus c’est pareil: European Integration and Interest Group Politics in the Low Countries. In: VollaardHBeyersJDumontP (eds) European Integration and Consensus Politics in the Low Countries. London: Routledge, pp. 134–154.
14.
BeyersJDe BruyckerIBallerI (2015) The Alignment of Parties and Interest Groups in EU Legislative Politics. A Tale of Two Different Worlds?Journal of European Public Policy22 (4): 534–551.
15.
BohleDGreskovitsB (2007) Neoliberalism, Embedded Neoliberalism and Neocorporatism: Towards Transnational Capitalism in Central-Eastern Europe. West European Politics30 (3): 443–466.
16.
BohleDGreskovitsB (2012) Capitalist Diversity on Europe’s Periphery. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
17.
BolleyerNCorreaP (2020) Self-Maintenance vs. Goal Attainment: Drivers of Mortality Anxiety in Organized Civil Society. European Political Science Review12 (3): 271–288.
18.
BunceV (1995) Should Transitologists Be Grounded?Slavic Review54 (1): 111–127.
19.
BuneaA (2013) Issues Preferences and Ties: Determinants of Interest Groups’ Preference Attainment in the EU Environmental Policy. Journal of European Public Policy20 (4): 552–570.
20.
Casal BértoaFMairP (2010) Two Decades On: How Institutionalized Are Post-Communist Party Systems? EUI Working Paper Series 3. Florence: European University Institute.
21.
CekikA (2017) Adapting to Europe? Business Interests and Civil Society Groups in Accession Countries. West European Politics40 (5): 1066–1087.
22.
Chaqués-BonafontLCristanchoCMuñoz-MárquezL, et al. (2021) The Contingent Character of Interest Groups–political Parties’ Interaction. Journal of Public Policy41 (3): 440–461.
23.
ChristiansenPMNørgaardASRommetvedtH, et al. (2010) Varieties of democracy: Interest groups and corporatist committees in Scandinavian policy making. Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations21 (1): 22–40.
24.
ConstantelosJ (2010) Playing the Field: Federalism and the Politics of Venue Shopping in the United States and Canada. The Journal of Federalism40 (3): 460–483.
25.
CrepazMHanegraaffM (2020) The Funding of Interest Groups in the EU: Are the Rich Getting Richer?Journal of European Public Policy27 (1): 102–121.
26.
De BruyckerI (2016) Power and Position: Which EU Party Groups Do Lobbyists Prioritize and Why?Party Politics22 (4): 552–562.
27.
DobbinsMRiedelR (2018) The New Research Agenda of Examining Organized Interests in Post-Communist Policy-Making Yearbook of the Institute of East-Central Europe. Rocznik Instytutu Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej16 (5): 61–79.
28.
DürA (2008) Interest Groups in the European Union: How Powerful Are They?West European Politics31 (6): 1212–1230.
29.
DürAMateoG (2012) Who Lobbies the European Union? National Interest Groups in a Multilevel Polity. Journal of European Public Policy19 (7): 969–987.
30.
EnyediZ (2006) Party Politics in Post-Communist Transition. In: KatzRSCrottyWJ (eds) Handbook of Party Politics. London: SAGE Publishing, pp. 228–238.
31.
Fink-HafnerD (2011) Interest Representation and Post-Communist Parliaments Over Two Decades. The Journal of Legislative Studies17 (2): 215–233.
32.
Fink-HafnerD (2017) Slovenia. In: BitontiAHarrisP (eds) Lobbying in Europe: Public Affairs and the Lobbying Industry in 28 EU Countries. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 299–311.
33.
FraussenBHalpinDR (2018) Political Parties and Interest Organizations at the Crossroads: Perspectives on the Transformation of Political Organizations. Political Studies Review16 (1): 25–37.
34.
GigerNKlüverH (2016) Voting against Your Constituents? How Lobbying Affects Representation. American Journal of Political Science60 (1): 190–205.
35.
GilensM (2012) Affluence and Influence: Economic Inequality and Political Power in America. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
36.
HallRLWaymanFW (1990) Buying Time: Moneyed Interests and the Mobilization of Bias in Congressional Committees. American Political Science Review84 (3): 797–820.
37.
HolyokeTTBrownHHenigJR (2012) Shopping in the Political Arena: Strategic State and Local Venue Selection by Advocates. State and Local Government Review44 (1): 9–20.
38.
HowardMM (2003) The Weakness of Civil Society in Post-Communist Europe. London: Cambridge University Press.
39.
JahnD (2016) Changing of the Guard: Trends in Corporatist Arrangements in 42 Highly Industrialized Societies from 1960 to 2010. Socio-Economic Review14 (1): 47–71.
40.
KamińskiPRiedelR (2021) When Illiberalism Looms-Mortality Anxiety and the Perceived Existential Threat among Polish and Slovenian Interest Groups. Interest Groups & Advocacy10 (4): 454–477.
41.
KatzRSMairP (1995) Changing Models of Party Organization and Party Democracy: The Emergence of the Cartel Party. Party Politics1 (1): 5–28.
42.
KatzRSMairP (2012) Parties Interest Groups and Cartels: A Comment. Party Politics18 (1): 107–111.
43.
KitscheltH (1995) Formation of Party Cleavages in Post-Communist Democracies: Theoretical Propositions. Party Politics1 (4): 447–472.
44.
KitscheltHMansfeldovaZMarkowskiR, et al. (1999) Post-Communist Party Systems: Competition Representation and Inter-party Cooperation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
45.
KlüverH (2013) Lobbying in the European Union: Interest Groups Lobbying Coalitions and Policy Change. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
46.
KostelkaF (2014) The State of Political Participation in Post-Communist Democracies: Low but Surprisingly Little Biased Citizen Engagement. Europe-Asia Studies66 (6): 945–968.
47.
LefkofridiZWagnerMWillmannJE (2014) Left-Authoritarians and Policy Representation in Western Europe: Electoral Choice across Ideological Dimensions. West European Politics37 (1): 65–90.
48.
LoweryD (2007) Why Do Organized Interests Lobby? A Multi-goal Multi-context Theory of Lobbying. Polity39 (1): 29–54.
49.
MakowskiG (2015) Rozwój sektora organizacji pozarządowych w Polsce po 1989. Warszawa: Studia BAS.
50.
MairP (1997) Party System Change: Approaches and Interpretations. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
51.
MairP (2013) Ruling the Void: The Hollowing of Western Democracy. New York: Verso Books.
52.
MarshallD (2015) Explaining Interest Group Interactions with Party Group Members in the European Parliament: Dominant Party Groups and Coalition Formation. Journal of Common Market Studies53 (2): 311–329.
53.
NortonECDowdBEMaciejewskiML (2019) Marginal Effects—Quantifying the Effect of Changes in Risk Factors in Logistic Regression Models. JAMA321 (13): 1304–1305.
54.
OffeCAdlerP (1991) Capitalism by Democratic Design? Democratic Theory Facing the Triple Transition in East Central Europe. Social Research71 (3): 865–892.
55.
OlejnikM (2014) The Law on Lobbying in the Republic of Poland Theory and Practice. CES Working Papers6 (1): 117–136.
56.
OstD (2011) Illusory Corporatism Ten Years Later. Warsaw Forum of Economic Sociology2 (3): 19–49.
57.
OstD (2018) The Defeat of Solidarity. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
58.
OtjesSRasmussenA (2017) The Collaboration between Interest Groups and Political Parties in Multi-party Democracies: Party System Dynamics and the Effect of Power and Ideology. Party Politics23 (2): 96–109.
59.
PfefferJSalancikGR (2003) The External Control of Organizations: A Resource Dependence Perspective. Redwood City, CA: Stanford University Press.
60.
Pop-ElechesGTuckerJA (2012) Post-Communist Legacies and Political Behavior and Attitudes. Demokratizatsiya20 (2): 157–166.
61.
PritoniA (2018) Europe First? Not So Much The (Limited) Europeanization of Italian Interest Groups. Unpublished Manuscript.
62.
RasmussenALindeboomG (2013) Interest Group–Party Linkage in the Twenty-First Century: Evidence from Denmark the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. European Journal of Political Research52 (2): 264–289.
63.
RasmussenAMäderLKReherS (2018) With a Little Help from the People? The Role of Public Opinion in Advocacy Success. Comparative Political Studies51 (2): 139–164.
64.
RozbickaPKamińskiPNovakM, et al. (2021) Achieving Democracy through Interest Representation: Interest Groups in Central and Eastern Europe in a Comparative Perspective. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
65.
Sanchez SalgadoR (2017) Europeanization of Civil Society Organizations in Times of Crisis? Exploring the Evolution Grant-Seeking Strategies in the EU Multi-level System. European Politics and Society18 (4): 511–528.
66.
SartoriG (1976) Parties and Party Systems: A Framework for Analysis. London: Cambridge University Press.
SikkA (2003) A Cartel Party System in a Post-Communist Country? The Case of Estonia. Paper Presented at ECPR General Conference, Marburg, 18–21 September.
69.
SpurgaS (2017) Lithuania. In: BitontiAHarrisP (eds) Lobbying in Europe: Public Affairs and the Lobbying Industry in 28 EU Countries. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 227–236.
70.
StreeckWSchmitterPC (1991) From National Corporatism to Transnational Pluralism: Organised Interests in the Single European Market. Politics and Society19 (2): 133–164.
71.
SzczerbiakA (2001) Cartelisation in Post-Communist Politics: State Party Funding in Post-1989 Poland. Perspectives on European Politics and Society2 (3): 431–451.
72.
PospiesznaP (2018) Democracy Assistance Bypassing Governments in Recipient Countries: Supporting the “Next Generation”. London: Routledge
73.
ThatcherMSweetAS (2002) Theory and Practice of Delegation to Non-majoritarian Institutions. West European Politics25 (1): 1–22.
74.
ThomasCS (2001) Political Parties and Interest Groups: Shaping Democratic Governance. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.
75.
ThomasCS (2004) Research Guide to US and International Interest Groups. Westport, CT: Praeger.
76.
TreschAFischerM (2015) In Search of Political Influence: Outside Lobbying Behaviour and Media Coverage of Social Movements Interest Groups and Political Parties in Six Western European Countries. International Political Science Review36 (4): 355–372.
77.
Van BiezenI (2003) Political Parties in New Democracies: Party Organization in Southern and East-Central Europe. London: Springer.
78.
Van BiezenIPoguntkeT (2014) The Decline of Membership-Based Politics. Party Politics20 (2): 205–216.
79.
Van BiezenIMairPPoguntkeT (2012) Going, Going, . . ., Gone? The Decline of Party Membership in Contemporary Europe. European Journal of Political Research51 (1): 24–56.
80.
WitkoC (2009) The Ecology of Party–Organized Interest Relationships. Polity41 (2): 211–234.
81.
WonkaABaumgartnerFRMahoneyC, et al. (2010) Measuring the Size and Scope of the EU Interest Group Population. European Union Politics11 (3): 463–476.
82.
ZubaK (2010) The political strategies of the Catholic Church in Poland. Religion, State & Society38 (2): 115–134.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
