what influences the changes in public opinion that contribute to shape policy change across Western democracies? This paper examines how two sets of collective actors – the organised public and the industry lobbies – interact in the public sphere. The paper compares two different policy-making junctures nuclear energy policy after the Fukushima disaster and the policy making process that aimed at passing legislation regulating internet piracy in a dozen Western democracies. In the case of these two policy areas, the industry lobbies (i.e., nuclear energy production companies, music industry) and the collective action actors (i.e., environmentalists, internet-users) had opposing positions regarding the preferable direction of policy change and they often mobilized their positions in the public sphere. This paper investigates these oppositional dynamics and interactions, which of the two sets of actors were more successful in influencing public opinion.
