Same but Different? The Effects of Interest Group Access in the EU and in World Politics

Abstract

The past two decades have witnessed a remarkable change of the mechanisms through which interest groups access supranational and international organisations (IOs). How and under what conditions do these changes in interest group access affect IO policy-making? More specifically, do existing forms of access enable interest groups to influence the policy output reached through the decision-making process in IOs, and if so, how? These questions are fundamental to the study of interest groups both in the EU and in world politics. While the EU literature has made several advances in studying the effects of interest groups on EU policy-making in the past decade, we still know little about the ways in which interest groups "capture" IO policy-making. Most of the IR literature on the role of non-state interest groups in world politics is engaged in the study of the legitimacy of different kinds of non-state actors and their accountability in using their influence. Very little comparative research has been conducted that benefits the development of mid-range theories applicable to the study of the effects of interest groups both in the EU and in world politics. In this panel, our ambition is to bring together scholars who are interested in redressing these shortcomings in the literature by informing the debate on the effects of interest groups both in the EU and the IR literature. We invite papers/proposals dealing with the effects of interest groups on IO policy-making, and more specifically on IO policy output. We are especially interested in proposals that aim to improve existing measurements of the effects of interest groups, as well as in proposals that adopt a comparative approach. Qualitative and quantitative proposals, or proposals that combine both methodologies, are equally welcome.

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