Abstract

This article focuses on the most relevant interest groups operating in the Italian health care sector, trying to assess the influence of these groups on the policy making process. The article aims to identify the strategies adopted by individual groups to advocate their own interests. It first describes how organizational resources are distributed among groups. Secondly, it focuses on the issues that lead groups to mobilize politically, underlining the patterns of interactions among pressure groups, politicians and bureaucrats. Here, the issue of direct vs. indirect lobbying is analysed. Finally, three law-making processes are traced. Each narrative sheds light on the ways in which groups take a public position on specific issues and describes the conflicts arising between the actors for and against a particular bill.