| The study provides an overview of the interaction between interest groups and decision-makers in the three countries. It examines both formal linkages between parties and groups as well as informal patterns of contact between interest groups and the different parties. The results provide up to date information about which types of contacts different kinds of Dutch interest groups have with the different parties in Parliament. Moreover, they make it possible to systematically compare how different types of groups interact with decision-makers in the three countries. The findings show that there is a considerable degree of variation in the relationship that different parties have with civil society in the three countries. However, they also show that in spite of factors that tend to loosen bonds between interest groups and parties, interest groups of the 21st century are not separated from the parties. Civic participation still to a high extent take place through interest groups. However, there is evidence that the character of the interaction between many interest groups and parties has changed. |
