Studyingpreferenceattainmentusing Spatialmodels

Studyingpreferenceattainmentusing spatialmodels

Ifullyagreethatstudiesusingpreferenceattainmentasaproxyforinfluencearetheoreticallyunderspecifiedandempiricallyandregardingmethodsbuiltonthinground.Thecontributionisthereforehighlywelcome.However,beforethepapercanbeacceptedforpublication,anumberofissuesshouldbeaddressedandclarifiedinarevisedversion.

ConceptuallyIagreewiththeauthorthatpreferenceattainmentandinfluencecan,conceptually,beconsideredastwodifferentthings,sinceactor-centeredversionsofthelatterargueforagencyofanactorinbringingaboutanoutcome(exertinginfluence)whilepreferenceattainmentisvagueonwhyandhowanactormanagestogetherpreferencesattained.Yet,atleastimplicitlypreferenceattainmentstudiesareinterestedinwhocanmoveanoutcomeinherinterestanddirection.Thisisnotonlytrueforexistingstudiesbutalsoforthispaper’scaseillustration.Whyelseshouldbeinterestedinwhichactormanagedtogetherpreferencesattained?Moreover,inspatialmodels,themoveofanoutcometowardsandactorisinterpretedasinfluencebytherespectiveactor/s.Theauthormustthereforediscussmoreclearlyandcarefullytherelationshipbetweeninfluenceand(preference)attainmentaswellastheroleofindividualactors(agency)inattainingpreferences.

Theauthorshouldbetterexplainthetheoretical(andmathematical)logicoftheconcretepreferenceattainmentmeasureproposedinthepaper.First,itisuncleartomewhythestatusquoandthereversionpoint(calledreferencepointinthepaper)shouldbeincludedintheempiricalanalysis.Don’ttheutilitygainsorlossesofactorsdependontherelativelocationofthereversionpolicyandtheproposedpolicy?Second,thetheoreticalrationaleoftheformulapresentedonpage5shouldbeexplained.

Inaddition,thestatusquoandthereferencepointarenotonepolicybut28intoday’sEUinallpolicieswherenoEUlegislationexists.Thiswillcomplicatethemodelconsiderablyandtheauthorshoulddiscusshowthisaffectstheapplicabilityofthepreferenceattainmentapproachassketchedinthispaper.Idoubtthatdimensionreducingmethodsmentionedinthepaperwouldinthesecasesstillbeapplicable.

Moreover,theresultofthedimensionreducinganalysisisdriven,asanyotherempiricalmethod,bythedatawhichgoesintothemodel.Whenapplyingtheempiricalstrategysketchedinthepapertointerestgrouppoliticsandpreferenceattainment,itisessentialthatallgroupswhohavebeenactivelylobbyingareactive,astheadditionofactorsandtheirpositionsmightchangetheresultsofthedimensionreducinganalysisandtheinferencesonpreferenceattainmentconsiderably.Identifyingallrelevantinterestgroupsisproblematic,sinceatleastsomeinterestgroupswillbecomeactiveonlyinformallyandbehindthescenes.Itshouldbediscussedwhich

measurescanbetakentoidentifyallgroupsandtochecktherobustnessoftheempiricalfindings.

Relatedtothis,interestgroupsarenottheonlyplayersinthelegislativegame.Legislativeinstitutionsandpoliticalactors(e.g.politicalparties)activeintheseinstitutionsplayanimportantrole.Inaddition,themultilevelterritorialstructureoftheEUpolitymightcomplicatethingsevenfurtherfortheempiricalstrategydescribedinthepaper:nationalpoliticalactorsandinstitutionsmighttrytoactivelyinfluenceEUpolicies.AtleastEUinstitutions/actorswithaformalsayinlegislative policy-making should be considered in these analyses, as they do have a stronginfluenceonthefinalpolicyoutcome.Iftheyarenotconsidered,inferenceonattainmentsuccess,orinfluence,mightbebiased,astheymightbewronglyattributedtoagroupwhiletheresultwasprimarilydrivenbylegislativeinstitutions.Putdifferently:theauthorshoulddiscusswhich(typesof)actorsmustbeincludedinanalyseswiththedimensionreducingtechniquesdiscussedinthepapertoarriveatreliableandunbiasedinferencesonthesuccessinpreferenceattainmentbyinterestgroupsinpolicy-making.

Finally,giventheimportanceroleindividualactors’positions/preferencesplayintheattainmentapproach,Iwouldexpectadiscussionofhowthesepreferencescanbemeasured,i.e.whichsources(text,personalinterview,survey)andmethods(automatedorhandcodingoftexts…)canbeusedandwhattrade-offsareinvolvedinchoosingtherespectivesourcesandresearchstrategy.Inthisregard,moreinformationshouldbeprovidedonthosepolicyissuesonwhichactors’positionshouldbemeasured.Theauthorarguesinthetextthatthechoiceofissuesonwhichpositionswillbemeasuredshouldbetheoreticallydriven.Onecould,however,alsoarguethatissuesshouldbeidentifiedempiricallybyaskingthoseinvolved(decision-makersand/orinterestgroups)ontheissueswhichhavebeenstronglycontestedduringpolicy-making,asitismostinterestingtolearnwhocaninfluencethecontentofcontestedpolicyissues.