Political Parties and Interest Groups in Norway

Informationen zum Autor Elin Haugsgjerd Allern is postdoctoral fellow in political science at the University of Oslo! Norway. Previously she was senior research fellow at the Institute for Social Research! Oslo. Her research interests include party organizations! the relationship between parties and interest groups! and political parties and multi-level government. Allern's doctoral thesis was short-listed for the ECPR's Jean Blondel PhD Prize 2008. Her work has appeared in several journals and edited volumes! including Acta Politica! European Journal of Political Research! West European Politics! and Political Parties and Democracy: Europe . Klappentext How do today's political parties relate to other organisations? Do they prefer rather distant relationships with a wide range of interest groups - or have they virtually detached themselves from civil society altogether? Scholars seem to agree that traditionally close relationships - such as those between social democratic parties and trade unions - have grown weaker since the 1960s. But to date only limited systematic research has been conducted. While parties and interest groups attract a great deal of attention from political scientists! the links between them have been largely overlooked. This book is an attempt to bridge the gap! starting from the party side of the relationship. It throws new light on the topic by presenting a theory-driven! comprehensive study of Norway's seven major political parties and their relationships with interest groups at the beginning of the new millennium. Based on original and extensive data! including party documents! in-depth interviews with key players and a survey of national party elites! Elin Haugsgjerd Allern paints a nuanced picture of the nature and significance of these relationships and the factors that shape them. A major conclusion is that Norway's parties tend to maintain rather distant but wide-ranging relationships with interest groups today. However! some parties still have fairly strong links with their traditional associates and a narrower network of links with other groups. Hence! Allern also shows that significant differences exist between parties that are apparently exposed to the same social! political and institutional environment. Inhaltsverzeichnis PART ONE - GENERAL INTRODUCTION 1 Chapter One: Political Parties! Interest Groups and Democracy 3 Chapter Two: The Universe of Political Parties and Interest Groups in Norway 17 PART TWO - FRAMEWORK OF ANALYSIS 31 Chapter Three: Parties and Interest Groups: Overlooked Relations of Democracy? 33 Chapter Four: The Nature of Party Relationships with Interest Groups 55 Chapter Five: What Factors Shape Party Relationships with Interest Groups? 77 Chapter Six: The Case of Norway 107 PART THREE - PARTY RELATIONSHIPS WITH INTEREST GROUPS: COMPARING CHARACTERISTICS 125 Chapter Seven: The Labour Party: Seeking Wide Network Yet Closeness to Trade Unions 127 Chapter Eight: The Conservatives: Network of Weak Links with Business Profi le? 149 Chapter Nine: The Liberals: Towards General Separation from Interest Groups? 163 Chapter Ten: The Centre Party: Approaching a Wide Network of Organised Links 171 Chapter Eleven: The Christian People's Party: Organised Network with Religious Profi le 183 Chapter Twelve: The Socialist Left Party: Towards Wide-Ranging! Organised Links 197 Chapter Thirteen: The Progress Party: The Rise of a Networking Populist Right 211 Chapter Fourteen: Contemporary Relationships: A Comparative Analysis 225 PART FOUR - PATTERNS OF PARTY RELATIONSHIPS: POLITICAL SIGNIFICANCE AND SHAPING FACTORS 245 Chapter Fifteen: Political Signifi cance of Relationships with Interest Groups 247 Chapter Sixteen: Variations in Relationships: An Explanatory Analysis 269 PART FIVE - CONCLUSION 309 Chapter Seventeen: Political Parties and Interest Groups: Between Separation and Integration 311 Appendices 329 Index 365...

Product details

• Authors: Elin Haugsgjerd Allern, William Brown, Elin Haugsgjerd Allern, Elin Haugsgjerd Allern, dina Iordanova, Leshu Torchin
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 30.06.2010
• EAN: 9780955820366
• ISBN: 978-0-9558203-6-6
• Series: ECPR Monographs
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History; Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political science and political education