In person icon Advocacy in the Age of Uncertainty and Urgency

Abstract

This panel explores how crises impact interest groups' ability to function as representational vehicles and regulatory intermediaries. While much research has examined interest groups' strategies and how organizational or issue-level characteristics shape their focus, less attention has been given to the broader societal context and its influence on these strategies. We still know little about how crises shape interest groups' core functions—both as channels for representation and as conduits that help shape societal interests. Moreover, the role of interest groups in times of crisis remains ambiguous. In climate policy, for example, lobbying efforts may hinder urgent policy change, yet interest groups also play a crucial role in shaping societal attitudes toward the acceptability of various policy solutions. Similarly, in the context of democratic backsliding, civil society organizations can act as defenders of democracy, but they may also contribute to authoritarian tendencies. This panel welcomes contributions that examine how contemporary crises reshape interest groups' fundamental roles as representational vehicles and regulatory intermediaries.

Title	Details
Beyond Access and Influence: The Evolving Roles and Strategies of Interest Groups in Environmental Governance	View Paper Details
Civil Society Organizations’ Advocacy for ‘Locally Shaped Climate Solutions’ in an African context	View Paper Details
What is a Crisis? The Perspective of Interest Groups	View Paper Details
Distributional Conflict & Climate Policy Under the Microscope: Interest Group Lobbying in the UK	View Paper Details
Professionalization or Movementisation? How Civil Society Organisations Cope with De-Democratization and the Contested Civic Space	View Paper Details