Explaining Bias in Membership Numbers

242 Pages·2019·2.259 MB·English

by  Marie Elisabeth Zeidler

Marie Elisabeth Zeidler
Explaining Bias in
Membership Numbers
An Empirical Analysis of Noneconomic
Interest Groups in Germany
Explaining Bias in Membership Numbers
Marie Elisabeth Zeidler
Explaining Bias in
Membership Numbers
An Empirical Analysis of Noneconomic
Interest Groups in Germany
Marie Elisabeth Zeidler
Berlin, Germany
Dissertation Humboldt-Universität Berlin, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences,
Germany, 2017
ISBN 978-3-658-23091-3 ISBN 978-3-658-23092-0 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-23092-0
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018950487
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Acknowledgements
The initial idea for this doctoral thesis emerged when I applied for the research
positionatthechairofHeikeKlüver.Iwassurprisedtolearnthateveninacountry
withanestablishedandprofoundinterestgroupsystem,abiaspersistsamongthese
organizationsthathasbarelybeenattendedbycomparativepoliticalresearch.The
inclusionintheprojectonInterestGroupsintheGermanBundestag,financedby
theFritzThyssenFoundation(GrantAz.10.13.2.109),thereforeofferedmenot
only financial support and important insights into the field but also a chance to
explore this bias in interest representation profoundly. It moreover gave me the
chancetohaveHeikeasathesissupervisor,towhomIowemydeepestgratitudefor
herguidanceandsupportthroughoutthelastfouryears.Withoutherknowledge,
guidance,andexcellencebothinthefieldofinterestgroupresearchandwiththe
process of writing a dissertation, I would probably still be looking for the best
theoreticalapproachtocapturemyresearchquestion.
Moreover,IwouldliketothankmysecondsupervisorThomasSaalfeld,whohas
accompaniedmefromthebeginningandhasbeenopentoanyofmyquestions
andproposals;andBernhardWeßels,who—onsuchshortnotice—hasbeenamost
valuablethirdadvisor.IalsothankKatharinaZimmermannforbeingpartofthe
committeeandforpreparingmeforthebigdayofmydefence.
Iwouldnothavebeenabletomakethisjourneywithouttheguidanceandsupport
ofsomanypeoplethatImetthroughoutmydoctoralstudies.First,mygratitudegoes
tootherpoliticalscientistswhohavereadorcommentedpartsofmythesisthatI
havepresentedthroughouttheyears.IwouldespeciallyliketothankJoostBerkhout,
ShaunBevan,DarrenHalpin,FrederikHeylen,AndreasDür,AnneRasmussenand
ChristineMahoneyforveryvaluablecommentsonmyproject,whichalsohelped
metoseemyworkinabiggerpicture.IespeciallythankChristianBreunigforhis
cooperationandsupport.
SinceworkingwithHeikegoesalongwithmovingfromtimetotime,Iwant
tothanksomanyspecialpeoplethataccompaniedmeandmyprojectatdifferent
universitiesandplaces.Iwouldthereforeliketothankallthepeoplethatinfluenced
meinBamberg,thefirststationofmyproject:SpecialthanksgoouttoFlorian
Weiler,whohasalwaysbeenasupportingandhumorouscolleague;ElviraMackert
forherfriendlinessandwarmth;MarionFischer-Neumann,StefanieHerber,and
IrisReusfortheirprofessionalsupportandfriendshipalongwithsomanyother
vi Acknowledgements
colleagues at the BAGSS; and Astrid Kothe for many happy creative cooking
experiencesandforbeingawonderfulroommate.
IwouldalsoliketothankallthosethathavemademystayinHamburgsucha
greatexperience:KatrinPraprotnikforbeingalovely,thorough,andexperienced
colleagueandfriend;Kai-UweSchnapp,whohasalwaysbeenthereforquestions,
recommendations,andmulti-chairlunchbreaks;ArndtWonkaformanyvaluable
discussionsandimportantremarksformyresearch;SaskiaMesternforholdingall
theorganizationalstrings;andlastOlgaHerzog,AdrianSchaefer-RolffsandKatrin
Behrendt,withoutwhomthestaywouldhavebeennotnearlyasmuchfun.
Mostimportantly,severalpeoplehavebeentherefromthebeginning,haveshared
frustration,joy,movingboxes,andbarvisitswithme—andhavemadethewhole
project an incomparable experience: I therefore thank (in order of appearance)
SvenjaKraussforherhonesty,constantsupportandnerdyness;Maria-SophieThürk
for being such a lovely, talkative, and optimistic roommate; Christoph Uhl for
introducing me into the fields of rational decision-making and mountaineering;
DenisCohenforhisnervestoansweranyofmyquestionscalmlyandconstructively;
andElenaforbringingnewperceptionsandsweetstoourcrew.Allofthemhave
alwaysbeeneagertoevaluateproblemsandchallenges,tosupportmeinanyway,
andtodiscusslifeandpoliticsingeneral.Inthisregard,Ialsothankallthenew
colleaguesattheHumboldtUniversityofBerlinfortheirsupport.
Beyondtheacademicfield,thisworkhasbenefitedgreatlyfromcuriousquestions,
longhoursofdiscussion,andvaluabledistractionsbysomanyfriendsthatwere
wonderingwhatIwasdoingallthetime,andwhy.Specialthanksgooutto:My
oldestanddearestfriendsJulia,Nadine,Sandra,Christiane,Victor,andPhilipp;
my indispensable suffering comrades Sandra W. and Vivien; and my regional
support-system,mostnotablyAnnette,Lea,Jan-Philipp,andEva,amongstmany
othersthatgatherregularlyinacertainbar.
Iwouldliketothankmyauntandmysistersandtheirfamilies,whowerealways
a haven of peace for me, and especially my parents, who always supported me,
whereverIwasandwhateverIdid,withoutaskingtoomanyquestions.Ialsowant
toexpressspecialthankstoUlrichWronna,whohasbeenafriendandenthusiastic
supporterofmyresearchpathforsomanyyears.
This book would not have been the same without Silvan who has played the
leadingsecondaryroleinthisdissertationproject,notleastbypreventingseveral
nervousbreakdownsofmine.Hesupportedmewheneverandhoweverandshowed
mewithhispositiveenergy,hisenthusiasmandcuriositythatlifebeyondworkcan
besomuchfun.Thankyouforbeingalwaysthereforme,Iloveyou!
MarieElisabethZeidler
Contents
ListofFigures xi
ListofTables xiii
ListofAbbreviations xv
1. NoneconomicInterestGroups,Membership,andtheQuestionofBias 1
1.1. KeyConceptsofInterestGroupResearch . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.1.1. InterestGroups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.1.2. InterestGroupBiasandNoneconomicInterestGroups . . 7
1.1.3. InterestGroupMobilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.2. StateoftheLiteratureandMyContribution . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
1.2.1. StateoftheLiterature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
1.2.2. MyContributiontotheLiterature . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
1.2.3. TheoreticalArgument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
1.2.4. MethodologicalApproach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
1.2.5. OverviewoftheDissertation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2. ExplainingInterestGroupMembership 35
2.1. IndividualPreferencesandtheLogicofAction . . . . . . . . . . 35
2.2. ExplanatoryApproachforMobilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
2.2.1. Macro-LevelFactors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
2.2.2. Meso-LevelFactors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
2.2.3. Micro-LevelFactors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
2.3. SummaryoftheTheoreticalFramework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
3. TheMeasurementofMembership 59
3.1. CaseSelection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
3.2. DependentVariable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
3.2.1. OperationalizationoftheDependentVariable . . . . . . . 61
3.2.2. SelectionofPolicySectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
3.2.3. MembershipDevelopmentacrossPolicySectors . . . . . 67
3.3. IndependentVariables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
3.3.1. OperationalizationoftheMacro-LevelVariables . . . . . 78
3.3.2. OperationalizationoftheMeso-LevelVariables . . . . . . 82
viii Contents
3.3.3. OperationalizationoftheMicro-LevelVariables . . . . . 98
3.3.4. ControlVariables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
3.3.5. DescriptiveStatistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
3.4. SummaryoftheResearchDesign. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
4. AnalysisofEndogenousandExogenousGroups 115
4.1. ModelSpecification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
4.2. PooledModelontheMacro-Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
4.3. EndogenousGroups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
4.3.1. Macro-LevelEffectsforEndogenousGroups . . . . . . . 123
4.3.2. RobustnessTestsoftheMacro-LevelFactorsforEndoge-
nousGroups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
4.3.3. SummaryoftheResults . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
4.4. ExogenousGroups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
4.4.1. Macro-LevelEffectsforExogenousGroups . . . . . . . . 136
4.4.2. RobustnessTestsoftheMacro-LevelFactorsforExogenous
Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
4.4.3. Meso-LevelEffects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
4.4.4. RobustnessTestsoftheMeso-LevelFactorsforExogenous
Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
4.4.5. Micro-LevelEffects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
4.4.6. RobustnessTestsoftheMicro-LevelFactorsforExogenous
Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
4.4.7. EffectsofDifferentLevelsofAnalysis . . . . . . . . . . . 158
4.4.8. Robustness Tests of the Factors of Different Levels of
AnalysisforExogenousGroups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
4.4.9. SummaryoftheResultsforExogenousGroups . . . . . . 162
4.5. DiscussionoftheOverallResultsforBothGroupTypes . . . . . . 166
5. Implications and Outlook: Group Membership, Mobilization, and
Bias 173
5.1. SummaryoftheStudyandDiscussionoftheFindings. . . . . . . 174
5.2. ContributionstotheLiterature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
5.3. FurtherResearch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Bibliography 187
A. ResearchDesign 213
A.1. PolicySectorofImmigrants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
A.2. MediaGlossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Contents ix
A.3. SOEPVariablesUsedtoOperationalizeMaterialResources. . . . 215
B. Analysis 217
B.1. RobustnessTestsoftheMacro-LevelFactorsforEndogenousGroups217
B.2. RobustnessTestsoftheMacro-LevelFactorsforExogenousGroups 219
B.3. RobustnessTestsoftheMeso-LevelFactorsforExogenousGroups 221
B.4. RobustnessTestsoftheMicro-LevelFactorsforExogenousGroups 224
B.5. RobustnessTestsofAllVariablesforExogenousGroups . . . . . 228
List of Figures
1.1. InterestgroupbiasinGermany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.2. Absolutemembershipnumbersofexogenousandendogenousin-
terestgroupsinGermany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.3. Degree of representation of exogenous and endogenous interest
groupsinGermany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.1. Theoreticalmodel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
3.1. Membershipnumbersacrosspolicysectors . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
3.2. Policysectorswithlowmembershipnumbers . . . . . . . . . . . 69
3.3. Policysectorswithmid-rangemembershipnumbers . . . . . . . . 72
3.4. Policysectorswithhighmembershipnumbers . . . . . . . . . . . 75
3.5. Reciprocalrelationshipofthedependentvariableandthemacro-
levelfactors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
3.6. Laggedstructureoftheindependentvariables . . . . . . . . . . . 110
4.1. PredictionsbyIssueSalienceforendogenousgroups . . . . . . . 126
4.2. PredictionsbyGovernmentActivityforexogenousgroups. . . . . 139
4.3. PredictionsbyIssueSalienceforexogenousgroups . . . . . . . . 140
4.4. Averagemarginaleffectsofthemeso-levelexplanatoryvariables . 147
4.5. PredictionsbyGroupStatusforexogenousgroups . . . . . . . . . 148
4.6. PredictionsbyGroupPermeabilityforexogenousgroups . . . . . 149
4.7. PredictionsbyMaterialResourcesforexogenousgroups . . . . . 155
A.1. MembershipnumbersinthepolicysectorImmigrants . . . . . . . 213