Organizing Interests In Western Europe

The chapters in this volume reconsider fundamental premises about state and society in advanced capitalist countries. That social scientists in different disciplines of varying methodological and political persuasions should have found it useful to collaborate in such an undertaking is testimony to the profound social, economic and political shocks experienced by all advanced capitalist nations since to late 1960s. The energy crisis, the end of rapid economic growth, inflation, high unemployment and rising social conflict challenge conventional conceptions about the functioning of industrial societies and their future course. Social science theories have been unable to illuminate these realities.

This book assesses the quality of democracy through the study of organized interests in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) since the collapse of communism in 1989 up to 2017. It offers a much-needed comprehensive look into formal interest representation in CEE countries and compares this with the model in Western democracies. Drawing on democratic theory and comparative analysis, the authors explore the effects of a legal framework, political as well as social contexts. The volume contributes to debates on the performance of young democracies in CEE, where scholars argue that there is a ‘democratic crisis’ and democratic fatigue while the interest group system is often labelled as weak and, in some cases, underdeveloped. Although great efforts have been made to deepen our understanding of interest organization and lobbying tools, the current literature fails to provide a comprehensive answer on the influence of unsupportive environments on population ecology. The case of CEE countries shows significant effects of political and social contexts on interest representation, stimulating a debate about the quality of democratic institutions following the collapse of communism.

Originally published as Organizing Western Europe, this analysis of the major organizations in Europe has been revised and extended to take account of the organizations established between East European states, both before and after the collapse of communist governments. Clive Archer examines their establishment, their goals, their institutions, their achievements, and their contribution to the functioning of the European political system. It places them in the context of contemporary history, the wider study of international organizations and of European integration.

Right-wing populist parties are thriving throughout Europe. With few exceptions, political systems have seen such parties make significant electoral gains and shape the national political discourse across the continent. In recent years, many populist parties have undergone leadership changes and other evolutionary challenges to which they adapted well, often contrary to expectations. This timely collection is devoted to understanding how Western European right-wing populist parties organize themselves. Without understanding the role of the organizational dynamics, we fail to understand how populist parties adapt over time and thus endure. Providing a systematic and comprehensive analysis of organizational issues of populist parties over time, Understanding Populist Party Organisation explores a range of political parties in Western Europe, examining their internal dynamics and questioning whether it is possible to discern or construct a general “populist” party typology of organization and representation. The book includes chapters on the Austrian Freedom Party, the Vlaams Belang, the Swiss People’s Party, the Lega Nord, the Front National, the Norwegian Progress Party, and the Sweden Democrats.

This analysis of political stability in Western Europe explores the role of two major forms of systemic conflict resolution - neo-corporatism and consociationalism. Political Stability and Neo-Corporatism focuses on recent experiences in eight western European countries that share two characteristics. Firstly, they have either long-established patterns of neo-corporatism (Belgium, Switzerland, Austria and the Netherlands) or have recently undertaken experiments in this mode of policy-making (Ireland, France, Italy and Spain). Secondly, they all have pronounced societal cleavages which should make them prone to suffering from serious and persistent conflicts. The high degree of political, social and economic integration achieved by neo-corporatist and consociational arrangements, accounts for the stability of these countries. The book opens up new areas for comparative research using a theoretical framework which encompasses both economic and social patterns of conflict and change. The approach advanced by the contributors makes possible the comparative analysis of diverse and complex political systems, whilst avoiding overgeneralized and abstract explanations.