Venue Shopping Strategies in Multilevel Systems of Governance

Abstract

In this paper we explain interest groups mobilization at the national, subnational and EU level. Our dependent variable is the number of different venues an interest group get access regarding a particular issue. We depart from the idea that increasing delegation of power towards supranational and subnational institutions implies a proliferation of the number of policy venues to which interest groups can come up to air their grievances, attract political allies, and affect the agenda setting process. However, we expect interest groups capacity (and/or willingness) to engage in venue shopping strategies varies across issues depending on their capacity to generate resources and the level of conflict associated with these issues. To answer this question we rely on a comprehensive database about interest groups access in the EU, and in Spain at the national and subnational level.

Keywords: interest groups, multilevel governance, venue shopping