Interest Articulation and
Aggregation
CANADA IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE
Interest Articulation
 The term interest articulation refers to the ways that
citizens express their needs, views and demands to
government
 Interests can be articulated by individual citizens or
by groups citizens who organize to represent their
collective interests
Social Capital
 A term made popular by
American political scientist
Robert Putnam
 Social capital refers to
connections among individuals
– social networks and the norms
of reciprocity and trustworthiness
that arise from them
Social Capital and Democracy
 Putnam argued that there is a strong positive
connection between social capital and democracy
 Social engagement  political engagement
successful democracy
 Bridging and bonding
social capital
Class and Participation
 Better educated and higher social status individuals
are more likely to engage in political participation
 These individuals tend to have a stronger sense of
political efficacy and civic duty
 They also possess the personal resources and skills
needed to be politically active
Types of Citizen Participation
 Voting (in elections and referenda)
 Joining interest groups or political parties
 Signing a petition
 Participating in a
demonstration
 Political consumerism
Interest Articulation
If the university doubled tuition rates in
response to provincial cutbacks to postsecondary education funding, how
would you respond?
Interest Groups
 A collection of individuals who have decided to
pursue common political goals
 Do not seek to control
the entire machinery of
government, but do seek
to influence the political
process
Types of Interest Groups
 Anomic
 Non-associational
 Institutional
 Associational
Interest Group Systems
 Pluralist interest group systems
 Neo-Corporatist interest group
systems
 Controlled interest group systems
Determinants of Interest Group Influence
 Numbers
 Cohesion
 Organizational skills
 Leadership
 Nature of the Issue
Strategies and Access
 Lobbying
 Mass-oriented activities
 Access points to
government
Violence and Protest
Is violence a legitimate form of
protest and interest articulation?
Interest Aggregation
 The activity in which the political demands of
individuals and groups are combined in policy
programs
 The means through which
articulated interests are
channeled into the political
process
Types of Interest Aggregation
 Personal interest aggregation
 Patron-client networks
 Institutional interest aggregation
 Connections between collective interests
such as interest groups and political
vehicles such as political parties
 Competition between institutional groups
Party Systems
 Competitive Party Systems
 Consensual Party System
 Conflictual Party System
 Consociational Party System
 One Party Competitive Systems
 Authoritarian Party Systems
Types of Political Parties
 Internally created: their founders were politicians
who already held seats in the national assembly or
other political offices
 Externally created: parties that
organized outside parliament
before they became a force inside
that institution
Election Systems
 Single Member Plurality or
“First Past the Post”
 Majority Run-off
 Proportional Representation
Discussion Question
Should voting in elections and
referenda be mandatory in Canada?
Authoritarian Party Systems
 Exclusive Governing Party System
 Inclusive Governing Party
System
 Military Regimes