The Representation of Citizens by Organized Interests in Germany

Abstract

In this study, we analyse the potential of organized interests to act as a conveyer belt between the population and political institutions in the German parliamentary system. Using data from expert interviews with lobbyists and a representative citizen survey we assess the congruence between the issue areas that matter most to the public and to organized interests in Germany. We further analyse whether the congruence differs with regard to the public salience of an issue and to citizens’ socioeconomic status or their political attitudes. Therefore, we differentiate between business and non-business interests. The results indicate a modest congruence of issues between the agendas of the public and of organized interests. However, this representative function is performed predominantly by non-business interest organizations that work on the more publicly salient topics. Furthermore, citizens with more extreme attitudes are better represented than those in the ideological centre. In contrast, there are no differences with regard to income and gender, or between East and West Germany.