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Andrew Hahm, a Politics doctoral student at Princeton University, will speak on "Interest Groups in Democratic Administration."
In a seminal 1937 article, legal scholar Louis Jaffe observed that the participation of private interest groups in New Deal regulatory agency proceedings had fundamentally shifted the nature of lawmaking in the United States. Commentators since then have largely agreed with Jaffe that interest groups play an important role in rendering administrative policymaking democratic (see e.g. Stewart 1975, Sunstein 1985). Taking this claim as a starting point, this dissertation chapter develops an account of the unique role that interest groups play in mediating between civil society and the state. Andrew argues that interest groups support democratic policymaking in the administrative state in virtue of the way they leverage collective organization in the representation of partial interests, their formation in a public sphere characterized by freedom of association, and the competitive nature of their modality of political action. These three features of interest group participation have the potential to both support and undermine the value of political liberty, grounded in the interests individuals have in influencing the political process and in protecting their substantive interests against neglect. This analysis implies constraints on the structure of relationships between the state and interest groups, amongst interest groups themselves, and between interest groups and individuals. At the same time, Andrew argues, there are limits to the use of statutory and procedural means for curbing democratic pathologies of interest group participation: civil society must retain some space for autonomous political action free from the structuring effects of the administrative state if individuals are to retain important capacities necessary for a healthy democratic society.
To attend virtually or to request a copy of the paper, contact Kim Murray.
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