Interest Groups & Democratic Governance

Abstract

This panel examines the intersection of interest group activity and democratic governance, highlighting how institutional, legal, and technological environments shape democratic interest representation. Across diverse settings—from the European Union to Central and Eastern Europe—the contributions move beyond analyses of lobbying as a purely strategic or resource-driven endeavor, focusing instead on how broader governance arrangements mediate the ways groups operate. A first shared theme concerns the organizational and institutional determinants of engagement: papers show that interest groups’ strategies, coalition-building, and tactical choices are shaped by regulatory frameworks and political contexts, including unconsolidated democracies or hybrid regimes. Second, the panel highlights the impact of chancing democratic and legal environments on interest representation. Contributions examine how civil society organizations navigate AI governance, regulatory reform, and legal constraints, revealing risks to transparency and democratic accountability. Some papers emphasize the chilling effects of restrictive legal frameworks, while others show how procedural innovations reconfigure advocacy capacities and the production of policy-relevant knowledge. Third, the panel situates interest group activity within dynamic and often turbulent political contexts. Papers explore how populist pressures and democratic backsliding shape lobbying.

Title	Details
Politics of AI Regulation: How Interest Groups Use AI to Shape the EU’s Democratic Governance	View Paper Details
Who Protests and Why? Organisational and Contextual Drivers of Interest Group Mobilization in Central Europe	View Paper Details
Lobbying Strategies in Unconsolidated Democracy: Insights from a Survey of Interest Groups in North Macedonia	View Paper Details
The Multidimensionality of Legal Reforms and Their Consequences for Democracy: A Study of Chilling Effects in Polish and German Civil Society	View Paper Details
How Legitimate are Interest Groups? A Systematic Review and Research Agenda	View Paper Details