Panel T12P03 “Interest Groups, Political Parties and Public Policies”

Chairs:

• Laura Chaqués Bonafont (laurachaques@ub.edu)
• Darren Halpin (Darren.halpin@anu.edu.au)
• Frédéric Varone (frederic.varone@unige.ch)

Abstract:

The goal of this panel is to bring together scholars analyzing the relationships between interest groups and political parties across time, countries and policy issues. Interest groups provide different types of goods of special interest to political parties and elected officials. They are among the main suppliers of expertise and technical knowledge on policy issues; they channel and represent citizens’ views and policy positions regarding economic, social and political problems, and on some occasions they become interested contributors to political campaigns as well. Policy-makers grant an institutional access to interest groups as a way of improving the effectiveness and efficiency of legislation, increasing the congruence between policy decisions and citizens’ preferences as represented by interest groups, reaching consensus and minimizing political conflict during the policy-making process, or maximizing their chances of re-election for the next parliamentary mandate. The goal of this panel is to bring together scholars analyzing how and why interest groups and political parties interact across time, countries and policy venues (e.g. executive, legislative and media) using quantitative and qualitative methods.

• The deadline for paper proposals is the 15^th, January, 2017
• To submit a paper, please follow this link http://www.ippapublicpolicy.org/conference/icpp-3-singapore-2017/7