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The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Interest Groups, Lobbying and Public Affairs pp 1–10Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Interest Groups, Public Opinion, and Political Representation

Definition

This chapter sets out to introduce the literature tackling the interplay between interest groups, public opinion, and public policy. Even after nearly 60 years of political science research, there is still much controversy concerning the involvement of interest groups in public policymaking and how lobbying might affect policy congruence and responsiveness to public opinion. While interest group politics and public opinion have long been examined in separate scholarly communities, this changed in recent times. We first cover recent studies addressing (1) the alignment between interest groups and public opinion, next we discuss (2) the independent but simultaneous effects of interest groups and public opinion on public policy, and finally (3) we cover how the interaction between interest groups and public opinion affects public policymaking. We conclude by reflecting on the findings in current literature, discuss some of its analytical limitations, and propose possible...

Keywords

  • Interest Groups
  • Organized Interests
  • Public Opinion
  • Policy Responsiveness
  • Political Representation
  • Public Policy
  • Advocacy
  • Lobbying

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Fig. 1

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

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

    Anne Rasmussen

  2. Department of Comparative Politics, Bergen University, Bergen, Norway

    Anne Rasmussen

  3. Institute of Public Administration, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Anne Rasmussen

  4. Department of Political Science, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium

    Evelien Willems

Authors
  1. Anne Rasmussen
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  2. Evelien Willems
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anne Rasmussen .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

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

    Prof. Phil Harris

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

    Dr. Alberto Bitonti

  3. Aurora WDC, Madison, WI, USA

    Dr. Craig S. Fleisher

  4. Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark

    Prof. Anne Skorkjær Binderkrantz

Section Editor information

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

    Anne Skorkjær Binderkrantz

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Rasmussen, A., Willems, E. (2021). Interest Groups, Public Opinion, and Political Representation. In: Harris, P., Bitonti, A., Fleisher, C.S., Binderkrantz, A.S. (eds) The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Interest Groups, Lobbying and Public Affairs . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-13895-0_55-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-13895-0_55-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-13895-0

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