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9 Governance: An Int'l J. Pol'y, Admin, & Institutions 1 (1996)

handle is hein.journals/gvnanlj9 and id is 1 raw text is: Public Interest Groups in France and the United States FRANK R. BAUMGARTNER* This article compares the strength, history, and characteristics of public interest groups in the United States and France. French and American public interest groups differ dramatically in their resources, popular sup- port, and in their relations with state agencies. French groups, dependent on a more powerful central state bureaucracy, are often able to achieve their goals by having them adopted by state elites. American organizations, faced with a more diffuse public sector, seek broader access and use a greater diversity of means of influence. They are often less influential, but paradoxi- cally are stronger organizationally because they are forced to be independent from the state. The differing relations with the state explain the different tactics and organizational maintenance strategies pursued by public interest groups in the two countries. Tight links bind the development of a nation's interest-group system with that of its constitutional structures. An expla- nation of a national interest-group system must include consideration of the institutional context within which it operates. THE PARADOX OF LOBBYING FOR THE PUBLIC INTEREST This article compares public interest groups in France and the United States, focusing on their relations with state agencies. Public interest groups in France and the United States share many characteristics, in particular their symbiotic relations with state agencies. These relations constitute a promise for influence and survival on the one hand, but a recipe for decline and capture on the other. French groups have been more successful in achieving close relations and support from sympathetic state agencies than American groups. However, their symbiotic relations with government sponsors have paradoxically hindered the growth and strength of many French organizations supporting public interest goals. American groups have by no means eschewed close relations with gov- ernment agencies. However, the diversity of state structures in the United States and the greater range of private sources for support have allowed the American groups to maintain a greater independence from their state sponsors. Paradoxically, the inability of American public interest groups to achieve their goals through state sponsorship has left them in a stronger position in the long run. * Texas A&M University Governance: An International Journal of Policy and Administration. Vol. 9, No. 1, January 1996 (pp. 1-22). © 1996 Blackwell Publishers, 238 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA, and 108 Cowley Road, Oxford, OX4, 1JF, UK. ISSN 0952-1895