'From 'Rent-Seekers' to public-concerned actors? The Effect of Openness and Transparency on Interest Group Behaviour'

摘要

[From the introduction]. The question addressed in this paper is if, when and how the "censoring" mechanism of publicity, which proponents of deliberative theory refer to, affects the verbal "input" that interest groups bring to the political decision-making process. I argue that it is an empirical question to what extent the faith in the purifying effects of openness that can be found it deliberative theory is well-grounded, and show how negotiation theory, corporatism-theory and agenda-setting theory complicate and question this deliberative assumption. The paper ends with a presentation of a set of hypotheses, derived from the theoretical discussion, which eventually will be tested empirically as part of my dissertation project.