Power groups, interests and interest groups in Latin America: a new era or more of the same?

Date01 November 2014
DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1539
Published date01 November 2014
Special Issue Paper
Power groups, interests and interest
groups in Latin America: a new era or
more of the same?
Clive S. Thomas
1
*and Kristina Klimovich
2
1
Foley Institute, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA
2
The New School, New York, NY, USA
This nal article draws on the 13 contributions to this special issue, regarding the broad range of perspectives and in-
depth analysesof interest group systemsacross Latin America,to assess the contemporary operationand academic study
of the regionsinterest group activity. In doing so,the analysis draws on the questions, premises and frameworkset out in
the rst article of thisvolume. Although the developmentof group systems varies fromcountry to country,extensive de-
velopmentshave occurred since the early 1980sin the institutionalizationof interest group activity. Yet, major challenges
need to be overcometo ensure a deep-rootedacceptance of interestgroup pluralism. Moreover, as with all group systems,
the challenges facing the region are very much shaped by long-standing socioeconomic andpolitical cultural character-
istics.These include widespreadeconomic inequalityand the central socio-political role of family thatoften translates into
clientelism,elitism, and corruptionin the public policy arena.In turn, these and other challenges facing the group system
affect the consolidation of democracy. Copyright © 2014 JohnWiley & Sons, Ltd.
INTRODUCTION
The introductory article to this volume set out six
goals or questions that form the basis of this investi-
gation into the sparsely researched and minimally
understood subject of interest groups in Latin
America. In encapsulated form, the purposes were
to: (i) trace the development of the regions interest
group systems; (ii) assess the place of these systems
in the contemporary political culture of the region
and in individualcountries; (iii) providea description
of the contemporary operation of these systems;
(iv) understand the role of interest groups in the
policy-making process; (v) show how the regions
systems compare with other group systems; and
(vi) draw on the ndings from the rst ve purposes
to develop an initial theoretical model for analyzing
Latin American interest group activity and that in
individual group systems. The introductory article
also provided an initial framework in Table 4 to aid
in achieving these goals for both individual
countries and the region as a whole.
This concluding article draws on the previous 13
contributions and the insights provided by the initial
framework to answer these specicquestions.The
general goal, as the subtitle indicates, is to assess
whether there is a new era in LatinAmerican interest
group politicsor just a continuation of the past? In his
Foreword to this special issue, former Brazilian
President Lula da Silva points out that the articles in
this volume do not provide denitive answers to all
the various questions posed. In contrast, his categori-
cal contention of the crucial role of interest groups in
the past, and their contemporary and future impor-
tance to Latin America, is clearly conrmed by the
contributions to this volume. The presidentsobser-
vations imply that although we cannot provide a
denitive answer to the major question posed in this
concluding article, the central place of interest groups
*Correspondence to: Clive S. Thomas, Foley Institute of Public
Policy and Public Service, Washington State University, Pullman,
WA 99164, USA.
E-mail: CST3435@gmail.com
Journal of Public Affairs
Volume 14 Number 3 pp 392422 (2014)
Published online 30 October 2014 in Wiley Online Library
(www.wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/pa.1539
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
in the regions politics over the years and observa-
tions on their changing role enable us to make many
enlightening observations and an assessment of the
contemporary status of group activity and likely
future developments.
Specically, in combination with this concluding
article, the 13 articlesprovide the rst comprehensive
treatment of power groups, interests and interest
groups as such, as opposed to their indirect treat-
ment, as for instance through the social movement,
political party and public policy literature on Latin
American politics. And our treatment is approached
through several perspectives including: the role of
interest groups in various countries (such as Brazil
and Uruguay); that of particular interests (such as
business in Chile) and in some cases in comparative
perspective (such as womens and health groups);
the relations of groups (or lack thereof) with other
aspects of the political system, for instance political
parties (as in Venezuela); and the extent to which
the interest group systems that has emerged in the
regions countries over the past three decades
advances or retards democratic development and con-
solidation. Thus, the value of studying interest groups
specically as political organizations in their various
forms for understanding past, present, and future
Latin American politics. In this regard, and as has
been the major focus throughout the volume, this con-
clusion primarily considers the role of interest groups
in the public policy process and only minimally their
internal organization.
As the rst comprehensive study of interest groups
as such in Latin American politics, we needed some
basic premises to act as a benchmark for assessing
the development of the regions group systems and
their relationship to pluralist democracy. Three pre-
mises were used that are evidenced by the develop-
ment of interest group systems in what we have
called developed democracies (the US, Canada,
Western Europe, and Japan, among other countries)
and also evidenced in the recent experiences in
Eastern Europe (Hrebenar, McBeth and Morgan,
2008) and in other developing democracies (Thomas
and Hrebenar, 2008).
The three premises, set out in full in the introduc-
tory article, in abbreviated form are as follows. The
rst is that the maturing of an interest group system
involves the erosion of an elitist monopoly on access
as well as an increase in the range of groups and of
the institutionalization of the groupsystem, including
the use of a wider range and more formalized strate-
gies and tactics.The second premise is that the opera-
tion and acceptance of an extensive interest group
system is fundamental to the consolidation and
long-term success of liberal democracy. The third
premise recognizes that while all interest group
systems share common elements, each is unique
because of local factors including history and socio-
economic and political make-up. This, in turn, will
affect the nature of the countrys democracy.
Drawing on the articles in this volume, we can
expand upon the rst premise and be more specic
about what constit utes a maturing interest group
system, or as we refer to it here, a developed interest
group system. The elements of this system are con-
tained in the following ve-part operational deni-
tion. The denition is founded on the principle of
political pluralism: that the most natural expression
of human political behavior is to have access to
government to inuence public policy through indi-
vidual or group representation. The ve elements of
the denition are that:
(1) Members of society view interest group activity
as legitimate and an advantageous form of
representation, even though they may see the
negative side of some group activity.
(2) Individuals and organizations are free to orga-
nize and represent their views to government.
(3) Civil society is as independent as possible from
control by government with regard to point 2.
(4) To promote some level of equality of represen-
tation and access and foster an interest group
systems that has public support, it may be
necessary for government to intervene in the
political advocacy marketplace to regulate some
interest group activity and aid some interests in
organizing and conveying their view to policy-
makers, among other reasons.
(5) The rst four elements will generally result in an
increase in the range of groups and of institu-
tionalization of the group system, including
the number of formal interest groups relative
to power groups, and more formalized strate-
gies and tactics.
Each element of this denition is also indispens-
able for realizing the second premise, that of devel-
oping and maintaining a consolidated pluralist
democracy. In fact, the interest group-democracy
relationship is a symbiotic oneneither one can
exist without the other. However, as explained in
several articles in this volume, and as will be con-
sidered below, the interest group-pluralist democ-
racy relationship is complex.
The article begins with an overview of the major
ndings of the study. Next comes an evaluation of
the rst premiseregarding how developmentsin con-
temporary Latin American group systems more or
less reect group activity in advanced democracies.
Then comes a consideration of the relevance of the
A new era or more of the same? 393
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. J. Public Affairs 14, 392422 (2014)
DOI: 10.1002/pa

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT