On the enemy’s turf: exploring the link between macro- and micro-framing in interest group communication

ABSTRACT

A key strategy of interest groups to influence policy-making is to frame the policy issue, that is, influence how the issue is understood collectively by policy-makers and the public. Hence, scholarly interest in how interest groups’ micro-framing of an issue influences and is influenced by the macro-frame, that is, the current collective understanding of the issue, is growing rapidly. To provide a starting point for more systematic analysis, this paper develops a typology of micro-framing strategies that an interest group can use when the macro-frame changes to be misaligned in a hegemonic way with the private interests of the interest group. Based on existing insights in the literature, we derive tentative hypotheses on the sequence of the micro-frame response. We apply the typology to the case of alcohol policy in Denmark. Our typology opens up a new and important avenue for future interest group research.

KEYWORDS:

• Alcohol policy
• interest groups
• macro-framing
• micro-framing

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the reviewers and editors for comments on the manuscript in addition to Arco Timmermans, Helene Helboe Pedersen, and Anne Binderkrantz and participants at the MPSA in 2018.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Henrik Bech Seeberg http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4501-4097

Additional information

Funding

The study was funded by the Independent Research Fund Denmark (Samfund og Erhverv, Det Frie Forskningsråd) [grant number 1317-0005].

Notes on contributors

Carsten Jensen

Carsten Jensen is a Professor in the Department of Political Science at Aarhus University. His research interests include the politics of the welfare state and the politics of electoral pledges, and his research has been published in American Journal of Political Science, British Journal of Political Science, and European Journal of Political Research among others.

Henrik Bech Seeberg

Henrik Bech Seeberg is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at Aarhus University. His research interests include political agenda-setting and party competition, and his research has been published in European Journal of Political Research, Party Politics, and West European Politics among others.