Converging Perspectives on Interest Group Research in Europe and America

Abstract: The European and American literatures on interest groups developed largely separately in previous decades. Europeans were more commonly rooted in studies of policy systems and Americans more concerned with precise tactics of lobbying or the membership calculus following from the work of Mancur Olson. Recent developments suggest that the literatures have begun to be much more closely aligned. We focus on three major points of convergence. First is the impact of governmental structures on the development of national interest group systems. Using examples from the US and the EU, we discuss the co-evolution of groups and the state. Looking both over time and across issue domains, groups are more active when and where the state is more active. Second, we look at the impact of government structures on the locus of advocacy. Originally explored in the US context, multi-level governance structures in European settings have led to consideration of the concept of venue-shopping. Finally, we discuss how groups in both systems adjust their lobbying strategies to their political context. Our review suggests that the study of groups, long divided by different perspectives may begin to benefit from substantially more convergence of research interests.