COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF LOBBYING MODELS: THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF INTEREST GROUPS RESEARCH

The article examines the features of a comparative analysis of interest groups and lobbying. This is a relatively new trend for political sociology and comparative politics that only begins to gain theoretical and methodological outlines. Nevertheless, despite the fact that the comparative analysis of interest groups and lobbying has gone beyond the scope of American political science and American studies, the scientific community still lacks understanding what should be the basis of the research. The variables for comparative analysis that are proposed in this paper are based on the revision of Gabriel Almond’s views, as well as on the concepts that have been used in the study of lobbyism in the last two decades. The author shows that Almond’s approach to comparative analysis of interest groups and interest groups systems has not lost its acuteness, but it requires actualization in the current stage of political systems’ development. As a result, the author proposes the following variables: types of interest groups systems, the interrelationship of interest groups with the party system, the interaction of interest groups with bureaucracy, the influence of interest groups on public opinion, their role in public policy, the processes of lobbying institutionalization, types of strategies used by interests groups in interaction with authorities. This set of criteria covers the most part of theoretical and methodological spectrum of comparative studies of interest groups and lobbying which are conducted by different scientists in different countries. The article aims to show that a more comprehensive and in-depth comparative analysis of interest groups and lobbying brings new opportunities for studying contemporary political processes under the conditions of changing institutional, social and economic environment of the society.

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