Looking for Ariadne’s thread: A systematic review on party-group relations in the last 20 years
| Published date | 01 November 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/02633957211030399 |
| Author | Marco Lisi,Rui Oliveira,João Loureiro |
| Date | 01 November 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/02633957211030399
Politics
2023, Vol. 43(4) 569 –586
© The Author(s) 2021
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DOI: 10.1177/02633957211030399
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Looking for Ariadne’s thread:
A systematic review on party-
group relations in the last 20
years
Marco Lisi
Rui Oliveira
Nova University of Lisbon and IPRI, Portugal
João Loureiro
Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL) and CIES-IUL, Portugal
Abstract
All too often, research on the relationship between political parties and interest groups has
followed different paths. In a research field dominated by multiple and disconnected approaches,
an overview of where we stand and what we know is pertinent. This study reviews and assesses
the empirical evidence brought forward through a systematic analysis of 182 studies on the topic.
We address three key questions. What are the analytical and theoretical perspectives employed
in this scholarship? What is the focus of the research? What are the research strategies used to
assess party-group relations? We answer these questions by analyzing an original, built-for-purpose
dataset providing information on the analytical frameworks, research designs, and focus employed
in recent studies. The analysis shows that this field of research has grown significantly over the
last decade and that multiple research strategies have been employed, with a predominance of
qualitative and case study approaches. The findings also suggest that different conceptualizations of
party-group relations have been adopted, while the American literature tends to adopt a distinct
theoretical perspective from European studies. Finally, the analytical focus has privileged economic
organizations, but it has moved progressively away from the study of organizational linkages.
Keywords
interest groups, linkage, political parties, political representation, systematic review
Received: 1st October 2020; Revised version received: 9th February 2021; Accepted: 25th May 2021
Introduction
The interaction between interest groups1 and parties is crucial to the functioning of repre-
sentative democracies. In modern democracies, parties not only need groups to gather
Corresponding author:
Marco Lisi, Department of Political Studies, Nova University of Lisbon, Av. de Berna, 26-C, Lisbon 1069-061,
Portugal.
Email: marcolisi@fcsh.unl.pt
1030399POL0010.1177/02633957211030399PoliticsLisi et al.
research-article2021
Article
570 Politics 43(4)
relevant information on policies, but also to foster participation and mobilization, to
‘audit’ the concerns of distinct sectors of civil society and to understand citizens’ reac-
tions to policy-makers’ decisions. However, parties are still the key gate-keepers for
groups’ access to the institutional arena. Extant research has pointed out the steady weak-
ening of traditional links between parties and groups, as well as the increasing informali-
zation and differentiation of these ties (e.g. Allern and Bale, 2012; Katz and Mair, 2018;
Rasmussen and Lindeboom, 2013). Recent contributions to the literature on party-group
linkages have significantly expanded our knowledge on the topic by conducting more
comparative or large-N studies, as well as adopting more sophisticated methodologies
(e.g. Allern, 2010; Allern et al., 2019; Allern and Verge, 2017; Otjes and Rasmussen,
2017). In particular, recent studies have identified both structural and contingent factors
that may shape interactions between parties and interest groups. However, this scholar-
ship is still characterized by its conceptual fuzziness and fragmentation, in both theoreti-
cal and methodological terms, looking just at one side of the equation (parties vs groups)
instead of using a unified perspective or approach (see Allern and Bale, 2012; Heaney,
2010; Lisi and Oliveira, 2020). In addition, we know very little regarding the focus of
these studies, the research strategies (data, methods, etc.), and analytical dimensions
(types of parties and groups, level of interactions, etc.).
The analysis of party-group relations is important for at least three reasons. First, par-
ties and groups are both key actors of intermediation and play a crucial role in fostering
the visibility of citizens’ preferences and articulating demands from civil society. Second,
influencing the political agenda, proposing policies, and intervening in the implementa-
tion of public policies are key functions of modern democracies and can impact the qual-
ity and output of democratic governance. Third, a combination of public concern about
the lack of representation and studies pointing to an increasing apathy and disaffection
with politics highlight the importance of understanding whether relations between parties
and groups are able to renew democracies or, by contrast, are a threat to the improved
performance of democratic regimes. Furthermore, this research topic is extremely timely
given the significant changes that political representation has experienced in the 21st
century, in particular, with regard to the growing process of disintermediation and the
increasing usage of new information and communications technology (ICT), leading to
new ways of citizen participation and representation and the strengthening of ‘advocacy
democracy’.
In light of increasing public debates on the crisis of party democracy and political
representation, research on the role of interest groups in contemporary democracies
has flourished in past decades (see Pritoni and Vicentini, 2020). However, these two
fields of research have remained disconnected and have not been able to advance our
knowledge on the topic. This study reviews the existing body of literature and attempts
to innovate the field by performing a systematic analysis of the main works published
in the last two decades. We address the following three major questions related to
party-group research: (1) What are the analytical and theoretical perspectives employed
in this scholarship? (2) What is the focus of the research? (3) What are the research
strategies used to analyze party-group relations? This study aims to answer these ques-
tions by examining the linkages between two established subfields within political
science, thus fostering interdisciplinarity and informing further discussions on impor-
tant political phenomena. To this end, we perform a systematic analysis based on 182
studies published between 2000 and 2019 that examine the links between political
parties and interest groups.
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