The Europeanization of organized interest groups in selected countries of Central and Eastern Europe Cover Image

Europeizacja zorganizowanych grup interesu w wybranych państwach Europy Środkowej i Wschodniej
The Europeanization of organized interest groups in selected countries of Central and Eastern Europe

Author(s): Rafał Riedel, Szczepan Czarnecki
Subject(s): Environmental and Energy policy, Government/Political systems, Comparative politics, State/Government and Education, Health and medicine and law
Published by: Instytut Europy Środkowej
Keywords: organized interest; CEE; advocacy organizations; Europeanization; lobbying;

Summary/Abstract: In democratic countries, advocacy organizations and other organized interest groups play an important role in the process of creating public policies and as a consequence, they influence the final shape of the implemented development models. The inclusive decision-making process enables interest groups to fulfill a variety of functions. Interest groups are very important legitimation channel, they provide expert knowledge, and also they are major channel through which citizens can express their opinions to the decision-makers. Through their activities, advocacy organizations may influence specific policies as well as the overall direction of the evolution of the development model. This paper describes and explains the Europeanization process and its pressure on interest groups in Central and Easter Europe, also answering the question to what extent the Europeanization process enables interest groups to access the political process at the state level. Article relies on data from a large-scale survey of organised interests operating in four CEE countries (Poland, Hungary, Slovenia and Czech Republic) in three policy sectors i.e. health care, higher education and energy policy. Based on the collected data, a linear regression analysis was performed.

  • Issue Year: 18/2020
  • Issue No: 4
  • Page Range: 147-169
  • Page Count: 23
  • Language: Polish