Explaining interest group access to parliamentary committees

Bibliographic Data

ID6408428
AuthorsLaura Chaqués-Bonafont (0000-0002-0724-4871, Clínica Diagonal), Luz Muñoz (0000-0001-6931-548X, Clínica Diagonal), Luz M Muñoz Márquez
Year2016
Volume39
Issue6
Pages1276-1298
Publication date2016-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueWest European Politics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0140-2382 • E-ISSN: 1743-9655
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01402382.2016.1184862
OpenAlexW2411119187
LanguageEN
Citations received27
References cited29

This article explains why parliamentary groups invite interest groups to the parliamentary arena. It argues that interest groups’ access to committees not only reflects policy-makers’ need for information and expertise but also party preferences and institutional factors such as the type of government, parliamentary committee structure and committee agenda capacity. Results show that interest groups’ access to the parliamentary arena increases under minority governments, in the case of highly conflictual issues, and when the number of permanent committees increases. Also, results demonstrate that parliamentary groups invite interest organisations following different logics – problem-solving or confrontation logic – depending on the type of functions they have to perform – legislative and oversight activities. The article uses a novel, comprehensive database with information on the appearances of all interest groups in the Spanish parliament from 1996 to 2015

Government (linguistics · Interest group · Legislature · Parliament · Parliamentary procedure · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Special Interest Group · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Policy Transfer and Learning · Political Influence and Corporate Strategies · Public Administration

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