THE MULTIPLE AMBIGUITIES OF COUNTERACTIVE LOBBYING

We review an article recently published in this journal to show how er rors of theory-building, measurement, and research design have contrib uted to a confusing state of research in the area of interest-group lo bbying activities. Contradictory findings in this area have come from the use of cross-sectional variance models where theories have called for longitudinal ones, from inaccurate measurements, from incomplete m odels, and especially from a willingness to overgeneralize from case s tudies. Despite a resurgence of studies on lobbying strategies, this l iterature will remain contradictory and inconclusive unless researcher s resolve some basic questions about their theories and the nature of the evidence necessary to test them.