Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Political Parties and Interest Groups

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Interest Groups, Lobbying and Public Affairs

  • 72 Accesses

Definition

Political parties and interest groups are two main types of organized political actors in contemporary democracies. As such, they have several qualities in common. Parties and interest groups aggregate individual interests and preferences into collective demands and seek to influence the form and content of public policy. Both concepts usually exclude latent social groupings and totally unorganized groups of individuals, and both denote action geared toward political power-seeking.

The difference between them concerns the foci of their main activity as intermediaries between society and state. While political parties seek public office by contesting territorially based elections, interest groups are organized attempts at influencing public decision-making from outside public office. A common minimal definition of a political party is “(…) any political group identified by an official label that presents at elections, and is capable of placing through elections (free or...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Allern, E. H. (2010). Political parties and interest groups in Norway. Colchester, UK: ECPR Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Allern, E. H., & Bale, T. (2017). Left-of-centre parties and trade unions in the twenty-first century. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Allern, E. H., Hansen, V. W., Marshall, D., Webb, P. & Rasmussen, A. (2020). Competition and interaction: Party ties to interest groups in a multidimensional policy space. European Journal of Political Research. First published online. https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6765.12403.

  • Allern, E. H., Otjes, S., Poguntke, T., Hansen, V. W., Marshall, D., & Saurugger, S. (2020). Conceptualizing and measuring party-interest group relationships. Party Politics. First published online. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1354068820949393.

  • Bawn, K., Cohen, M., Karol, D., Masket, S., Noel, H., & Zaller, J. (2012). A theory of political parties: Groups, policy demands and nominations in American politics. Perspectives on Politics, 10(3), 571–597.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berkhout, J., Hanegraaff, M., & Statsch, P. (2019). Explaining the patterns of contacts between interest groups and political parties: Revising the standard model for populist times. Party Politics, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354068819856608.

  • Duverger, M. (1954/1972). Political parties: Their organization and activity in the modern state. London, UK: Methuen.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eichenberger, S., & Mach, A. (2017). Formal ties between interest groups and members of parliament: Gaining allies in legislative committees. Interest Groups & Advocacy, 6(1), 1–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fraussen, B., & Halpin, D. (2016). Political parties and interest organizations at the crossroads: Perspectives on the transformation of political organizations. Political Studies Review, 16(1), 25–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heaney, M. T. (2010). Linking political parties and interest groups. In S. L. Maisel & J. M. Berry (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of American political parties and interest groups (pp. 568–587). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hojnacki, M., Kimball, D. C., Baumgartner, F. R., Berry, J. M., & Leech, B. L. (2012). Studying organizational advocacy and influence: Reexamining interest group research. Annual Review of Political Science, 15(1), 379–399.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kirchheimer, O. (1966). The transformation of the Western European party systems. In J. LaPalombara & M. Weiner (Eds.), Political parties and political development (pp. 177–200). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Koger, G., Masket, S. E., & Noel, H. (2009). Partisan webs: Information exchange and partisan networks. British Journal of Political Science, 39(3), 633–653.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Poguntke, T. (2002). Parties without firm social roots? Party organisational linkage. In K. R. Luther & F. Müller-Rommel (Eds.), Political parties in the new Europe: Political and analytical challenge (pp. 43–62). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rasmussen, A., & Lindeboom, G. J. (2013). Interest group-party linkage in the twenty-first century: Evidence from Denmark, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. European Journal of Political Research, 52(2), 264–289.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Romeijn, J. (2020). Lobbying during government formations: Do policy advocates attain their preferences in coalition agreements? West European Politics. First published online. https://doi.org/10.1080/01402382.2020.1755515, 1.

  • Sartori, G. (1976). Parties and party systems: A framework of analysis (Vol. 1). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schattschneider, E. E. (1942). Party government. New York, NY: Rinehart.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thomas, C. S. (Ed.). (2001). Political parties and interest groups: Shaping democratic governance. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tsakatika, M., & Lisi, M. (2013). ‘Zippin’ up my boots, Goin’ Back to my Roots’: Radical left parties in southern Europe. South European Society and Politics, 18(1), 1–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Victor, J. N., & Reinhardt, G. Y. (2018). Competing for the platform: How organized interests affect party positioning in the United States. Party Politics, 24(3), 265–277.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Von Beyme, K. (1985). Political parties in Western democracies. Aldershot, UK: Gower.

    Google Scholar 

  • Warner, C. M. (2000). Confessions of an interest group. The Catholic Church and political parties in Europe. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

Further Reading

  • Otjes, S., & Rasmussen, A. (2017). The collaboration between interest groups and political parties in multi-party democracies: Party system dynamics and the effect of power and ideology. Party Politics, 23(2), 96–109.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Witko, C. (2009). The ecology of party-organized interest relationships. Polity, 41(2), 211–234.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political Science, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    Elin Haugsgjerd Allern

Authors
  1. Elin Haugsgjerd Allern
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Elin Haugsgjerd Allern .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Business Research Institute, University of Chester, Chester, UK

    Phil Harris

  2. Universita della Svizzera Italiana, Lugano, Ticino, Switzerland

    Alberto Bitonti

  3. Aurora WDC, Madison, WI, USA

    Craig S. Fleisher

  4. Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark

    Anne Skorkjær Binderkrantz

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Political Science, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

    Anne Skorkjær Binderkrantz

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Allern, E.H. (2020). Political Parties and Interest Groups. In: Harris, P., Bitonti, A., Fleisher, C.S., Skorkjær Binderkrantz, A. (eds) The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Interest Groups, Lobbying and Public Affairs . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-13895-0_50-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-13895-0_50-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-13895-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-13895-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Political Science and International StudiesReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation