Opportunities for Participation and Access to Information: Adequate and Equal?

Abstract

From the standpoint of modern democracy, Robert Dahl once noted, the policy influence of autonomous interest organisations is at “once a fact, a value, and a source of harm” (1982: 28). It is a fact, because it is impossible to imagine a functioning democratic system in which elected leaders remain unresponsive to the demands raised by various organised interests. It is a value, because the interest-group system serves as an additional channel — alongside the electoral system — for citizens to express their views on important policy matters. And it is a source of harm, since politically influential interest groups can use their powers to distort the public agenda in their own interest. Thus, the involvement of autonomous organisations in political decision-making may at once enhance and endanger democracy.