Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1970. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

The activity of interest groups in the political process of the European Union has given rise to a broad debate concerning the effect on European democracy these groups have. As relatively powerful political actors, the question of these groups’ views on the EU and how the union should be is an important one. The status of these groups owns democratic representation also affects the democratic status of the EU. Being based on a number of theories, this study adopts an ideology analysis for the purpose of testing these theories on two cases – the Swedish environmental organizations World Wide Fund for Nature and The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation. This study conducts an investigation of these questions based on theories of interest group involvement in politics, aswell as the broader theories of pluralism and corporatism in a democratic political system. The question of representation is examined based on different perspectives and theories of representation, specifically on discursive representation which offers a view unlike the normal one of representing individuals or voters. The analysis shows varying support for the pluralist and corporatist view of politics, aswell as clear support for the discursive representation together with the more “traditional” view of representation.

I situate this dissertation and its contributions at the edge of the literature on interest group political behavior and congressional responsiveness. In particular, I use new strategies and tools to study interest group influence. In the first essay, I find that a machine-learning text-analysis detects latent patterns in the frequency of lobbying by the telecommunications industry in 2015. Meanwhile, members of Congress primarily focus on healthcare and taxes when they discuss policy issues on social media. In the second essay, I measure the change in political behavior of interest groups by ideology after the surprise result of the 2016 presidential election. The evidence suggests there was an increase in political spending by ideologically polarized interest groups shortly after the election. Finally, the cornerstone of this dissertation evaluates the results of two field experiments measuring congressional responsiveness to issue advocacy with a non-profit, non-partisan political advocacy organization. Counter to expectations in the interest group literature, I find that members of Congress are responsive on social media to interest group requests on a low-salience, non-partisan issue. These findings have important implications for representation and responsiveness in the U.S. Congress by highlighting areas of research that need further study and deeper evaluation.

O processo de consumo é complexo e sofre constantes transformações. Em função das novas demandas e ofertas do mercado, o comportamento do consumidor se reorganiza, transformando hábitos em novos rituais e reformulando rituais antigos. Esta tese visa alargar os paradigmas acerca das conexões - especificamente do mundo digital - entre consumidores e seus grupos de referência, entendendo a importância de tais grupos, como acontecem as troca de informações, quais são os fatores dos pontos de conexão que mais impactam na tomada de decisão de consumo e, especialmente, como ocorre a atribuição de confiança. Partindo da bibliografia existente - com aporte na comunicação, psicologia social e algumas áreas das ciências exatas - construiu-se o corpo teórico desta tese que demandou ainda o atrelamento de pesquisa exploratória e de campo tendo em vistas a constante necessidade de observar o fenômeno, suas rápidas e constantes mudanças e, logicamente, da subsequente coleta de dados que qualificaram e deram escopo às análises das observações, corroborando ou dissuadindo as hipóteses levantadas. Os resultados encontrados nos apontam as diferenças entre os perfis dos consumidores e as diferentes formas de interação com os comentários online e as formas particulares como cada tipo de consumidor atribui confiança aos demais consumidores. / The consumption process is complex and undergoes constant transformations. Due to the new demands and offers of the market, the consumer behavior reorganizes and transformes habits into new rituals and restate old rituals. This thesis aims to broaden the paradigms about the connections - specifically of the digital world - between consumers and their reference groups, understanding the importance of such groups, how the network works, which factors oin connection points are most importante to consumer decision-making and, especially, how trust assignment occurs. Based on the existing bibliography - with englobes communication, social psychology and some areas of the exact sciences - the theoretical scope of this thesis was builded, which also demanded the linkage of exploratory and field research by the constant need to observe the phenomena, this fast and constant changes and, of course, the subsequent collection of data that qualified and gave scope to the analyzes of the observations, corroborating or dissuading the hypotheses raised. The results showed us the differences between consumer profiles and the different forms of interaction with online comments and the particular ways in which each type of consumer attributes trust to other consumers

The lobbying of Parliament and the Government in the United Kingdom by wealthy or influential groups and individuals raises concerns about corruption and political equality. Professional lobbying is available mainly to those with significant resources and is often the most effective means of influencing decision-makers. Unchecked, it corrodes public trust in core public institutions. This thesis argues that the problems attending the lobbying of Parliament and Government in the UK need to be identified and understood more clearly so that targeted regulatory solutions can be determined. Currently, lawmakers, organisations and academics have struggled to propose clear pathways for identifying the main issues and understanding them. This is due to a failure to agree on the nature and scope of the central problems associated with lobbying, the relationship between them, and how they are relevant to the model of democratic government in the UK. To overcome this, an analytical framework called ‘institutional diversion’ is developed, tested and evaluated. The framework is developed from institutional corruption literature in the United States and is divided into three parts. Part 1 provides elements which help to identify specific lobbying concerns and provide a rich account of the underlying issues. Part 2 articulates a test to determine whether the identified problem in Part 1 causes a diversion from the purpose of the relevant public institution. It is argued that the critical purpose of decision-makers in Parliament and the Government is to ‘act in the public interest’ and that a diversion from that purpose can be tested using the two criteria of ‘integrity’ and ‘objectivity’. Further, it is not sufficient for a framework to simply identify and help to understand the concerns with lobbying. The logical next step is to identify solutions, and that process must also be rationally guided. Therefore, guidelines are developed from an analysis of an interview with the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists in the UK conducted specifically for this thesis. The guidelines are intended to help future reform analyses by highlighting the practical and political restrictions within which solutions must be developed otherwise they will be unlikely to succeed.