Analysing Interest Intermediation Structures in Central and Eastern Europe: The Rise of Corporatism or Persistence of Statism?

Political scientists have made significant advancements in comparatively analyzing the role and influence of organized interests in the political process. Despite various notable exceptions (Fink-Hafner 2011; Pleines 2011; Carmin 2010, Vrabliková 2014) the post-communist region has been largely neglected. This is surprising because organized interests can be regarded as a precondition of democracy and facilitator of democratic transitions. However, the oppression of civic participation outside the party apparatus has reinforced the view that organized interests are weak and fragmented in the post-communist world (Howard 2003) due to “over-parliamentarization and over-particization” in the transition era (Grzymała-Busse 2003; Pérez-Solórzano Borragán 2004). Other observers argue that the Europeanization process has resulted in the strengthening of central executives to the detriment of civil society interests (Goetz and Wollmann 2001). By contrast, Fink-Hafner (1998) contends that Central and Eastern Europe is experiencing the “reinvention of civil society”, reflected in new forms and strategies of collective interest representation. This view is backed by a growing number of analyses on the density of membership in civic organizations (Petrova and Tarrow 2007; Howard 2003) and their increasing representation in parliament (Fink-Hafner 2011). This paper focuses on the interest intermediation structures that have evolved over the post-communist era. While scattered studies (e.g. Avdagic 2005) have classified post-communist interest intermediation systems as pluralist, corporatist (e.g. Slovenia) or “illusorily corporatist” (Ost 2000), we believe that the jury is still out. First, previous literature has focussed nearly exclusively on the economic sector (e.g. Avdagic, 2005), while studies of other policy areas remain scarce. Second, scholars have yet to work with clear-cut data and indicators regarding interest intermediation structures in the region. The main aim of our paper is to explore the interest intermediation structures in three policy areas in Central and Eastern Europe: energy, health care and education. We derive our data from a survey questionnaire sent to hundreds of national interest organizations operating in Poland, Slovenia, Hungary and the Czech Republic. The first set of questions covers interactions between interest groups and state actors as well as between individual interest groups in the policy-making process. This enables us to draw conclusions on the level of policy coordination and political exchange and underlying institutional arrangements between the state and interest groups as well as any potential changes over the past 15 years. The second batch of questions addresses the issue of networking between domestic and European-level interest groups and its potential impact on the level of professionalization of interest organizations operating in post-communist democracies. The survey results enable us to explore the factors which are advantageous or disadvantageous to the political representation of interest groups (e.g. size, resources, industrial vs. consumer interests, foundation date, etc.) and whether tighter linkages with like-minded European or transnational organizations have resulted in the greater professionalization of Central and European interest groups.