Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Grossman, Emiliano
• Saurugger, Sabine

Titel

Challenging French Interest Groups: The State, Europe and the International Political System

Ist Teil von

• French politics, 2004-08, Vol.2 (2), p.203-220

Ort / Verlag

London: Palgrave Macmillan

Erscheinungsjahr

2004

Quelle

PAIS Index

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• The article offers an analysis of the situation of French interest groups in France. Largely ignored by mainstream political science in France, interest groups are confronted with a wide spectrum of transformations. Three types of challenges can be identified: European integration, globalization and the changing role of the French State. Faced with these challenges, the adaptational changes of groups are diverse. We observe profound changes in organizational structures, the questioning of power relations between the State and the groups as well as among groups in the main policy areas, the emergence of new groups and a process of professionalization of interest representation, often transferred to specialized consultancies. Finally, this article points out a number of venues for further research regarding interest group politics in France. In this context, it is important to underline the opportunity presented by the multiplication of interest groups in a context of a crisis of political representation, by the adaptation capacity of French interest groups at the European level, and their willingness to use the global arena strategically to represent their interests at the national level. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]