Elites in the Policy Process

Originally published in 1974, this volume presents the results of a five-year study into interest groups, funded by the Canada Council.

Robert Presthus (Author)

9780521134576, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 11 March 2010

540 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 3.1 cm, 0.79 kg

Originally published in 1974, this volume presents the results of a five-year study, funded by the Canada Council, the main objectives of which were to assemble a comprehensive amount of empirical information on the structure and process of interest groups and the nature of their interactions and influence vis-à-vis government, and to provide a theoretical account and explanation of interest groups in the policy-making process by a comparative analysis of their behavior in two different political systems, i.e. parliamentary and presidential. Three elite groups (interest group executives, legislators, and higher civil servants, numbering 2400 in all), were interviewed at length in eight areas: Washington D.C., Michigan, Louisiana, Washington State, Ottawa, Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia, which made this the most ambitious cross-national comparative investigation of interaction and policy-making yet undertaken.

Preface
Acknowledgments
Part I. Political Culture and Interest Group Behavior
Part II. Interest Groups: Structure and Function
Part III. Patterns of Elite Interaction and Accommodation
Part IV. The Bases of Elite Accommodation
Part V. Cross-National Variations in Interest Group Behavior
Methodological appendix I
Methodological appendix II
Index of names
Index of subjects.

Subject Areas: Politics & government [JP]