Informations du cours

This course studies the power resources, strategies, and success of the main actors of the policy process: parties, members of parliament, bureaucrats, interest groups, citizens, and experts. This year’s course puts the focus on interest groups. The course aims to provide you with the opportunity to assess the contribution of interest groups to political life in established democracies. To this end, we will study texts that focus on the mobilization of interest groups, the lobbying strategies employed (strategies of conflict containment and expansion, inside and outside lobbying), and the success achieved. Special attention will be placed on the inequalities among different types of groups: business associations, labor unions, and public interest groups (e.g., environmental associations).