The Changing Roles of Societal Groups

Abstract

In the previous two chapters, I argued that policy goals and instruments change periodically and simultaneously. This chapter assesses longitudinal developments in the measures taken by political elites to shape relations between the public sector and societal groups in policy processes. As in the previous chapter, I first present a concise overview of the general developments in Europe and follow up with an in-depth case study. The analysis, which begins in the early 1950s and continues until 2002, distinguishes four periods with four distinct forms of such relations. The basic research question is whether it is possible to identify the main differences between the four kinds of relationship and whether the underlying dynamics can be traced.