Norton Philip (ed.) Parliaments and Pressure Groups in Western Europe

Routledge, 2006. — 196 p.Parliaments and Pressure Groups in Western Europe (volume 2 of Parliaments in Contemporary Western Europe series) seeks to advance our understanding of Western European parliaments and explores the relationship between parliaments and pressure groups. Pressure groups - or interest groups, to use a more neutral term - are intrinsic to a liberal democracy. Yet remarkably little is known about the relationship between parliaments and pressure groups in western Europe. This may be because such activity is hidden, non-existent, or deemed to be of no importance, but it is important to know which it is in order to understand fully the workings of a political system.ContentsPreface
List of Contributors
General IntroductionIntroduction: Putting Pressure on Parliaments
Philip NortonThe United Kingdom: Parliament Under Pressure
Philip NortonGermany: Bundestag and Interest Groups in a Tarty Democracy'
Thomas SaalfeldParliament and Pressure Groups in Italy
Vincent Delia SalaBelgium: Insider Pressure Groups in an Outsider Parliament
Lieven de WinterThe Netherlands: Parliamentary Parties Rival with Pressure Groups
M.P.C.M. Van SchendelenParliaments and Pressure Groups: The Irish Experience of Change
Eunan O'Halpin and Eileen ConnollyThe European Parliament: Getting the House in Order
Mark P. ShephardConclusion: Conflicting Pressures
Philip NortonIndex