Does Access Lead to Influence? Evidence from EU Interest Groups

The link between the access of interest groups to policymakers and their influence on decision-making continues to be an area of confusion in EU interest group research. Scholars agree that the two concepts are closely related, but also acknowledge that they are empirically separate. This ambiguous distinction is further complicated by a possible spurious relationship involving a third concept: groups might have both more (less) access and influence because they are perceived to have more (less) power. This paper develops a theoretical framework on the relationship between these concepts. The framework is then tested using a comprehensive empirical analysis that combines a large survey of EU interest groups with public data on their access to the EU Commission. The analysis contributes to the clarification of the causality between access and influence by proposing empirically-driven expectations of this relationship.