Suchergebnisse

Interest groups constitute a specific civil society voice in democratic politics. They operate in a situation of constant friction between two main strategic goals: keeping the organization alive and exerting political influence. This article explores both topics, examining factors conditioning the group's tendency to cooperate with others as well as the degree to which such cooperation facilitates access to policy-making apparatus, exploring the post-communist environment of four selected Central Eastern Europe (CEE) countries and three policy areas: energy, healthcare and higher education policy. The authors aim to apply and examine the interest groups' cooperation patterns from the EU level to the CEE regional level. The article finds strong support for somewhat weak cooperation between interest groups in the region. However, even such moderate cooperation clearly affects the possibility of access to both the ruling parties and the parliaments. In particular, the cooperation of groups in the field of joint statements may turn out to be a form of remedy for the weaknesses of interest groups in the region.

Poland and Hungary have been widely recognised as countries affected by illiberalism. This has undoubtedly created a challenging environment for interest groups; groups which are a touchstone for the quality of democratic processes. In this article, we aim to understand how preconditions for interest representation have changed due to illiberal drift through the eyes of interest groups operating in these two selected post-communist countries. In order to examine their perception of opportunity structures, interaction infrastructure as well as the level of political coordination under the new circumstances, we rely on quantitative research in the form
of a survey carried out among interest group representatives. Our results indicate that the political systems of Poland and Hungary are still a mix of pluralist and corporatist features, however, the Polish political opportunity structures are still more open to input from civic society and interest groups have stronger positions compared to the situation in Hungary.

Poland and Hungary have been widely recognised as countries affected by illiberalism. This has undoubtedly created a challenging environment for interest groups; groups which are a touchstone for the quality of democratic processes. In this article, we aim to understand how preconditions for interest representation have changed due to illiberal drift through the eyes of interest groups operating in these two selected post-communist countries. In order to examine their perception of opportunity structures, interaction infrastructure as well as the level of political coordination under the new circumstances, we rely on quantitative research in the form of a survey carried out among interest group representatives. Our results indicate that the political systems of Poland and Hungary are still a mix of pluralist and corporatist features, however, the Polish political opportunity structures are still more open to input from civic society and interest groups have stronger positions compared to the situation in Hungary.

AbstractThis article familiarizes readers with the international research project 'The Missing Link: Exploring Organized Interests in Post-Communist Policy-Making' (OrgIntCEE). The project team has focused on how populations of organized interests in the region have evolved, how they interact with state institutions as well as the group-specific characteristics driving access to policy-makers. The project also explores how Europeanization has affected post-communist interest groups as well as other factors contributing to their "coming-of-age." We provide a comprehensive overview of the population ecology and survey datasets, while shedding light on the challenges during the data collection process. After a short overview of the project context and structure, we present some country-specific aggregated data on organizational densities and their political activity. We also reflect on potential uses for the data, before wrapping up the article with a self-critical assessment of what could have been done differently as a roadmap for future research.