ABSTRACT
The third chapter identifies two causal mechanisms linked to groups’ organisational structures on the vertical axis: the internalisation and the externalisation mechanisms. The chapter argues that, by including members in their decision-making processes, interest groups decrease their ability to react spontaneously and as fast at the European political level. However, by not including their members, interest groups externalise conflict with these same members and thereby increase the potential for opposition and confrontation in the European arena. The chapter’s approach is based on insights from organisational theory, organisational sociology and interest groups research, and deduces two expectations for the vertical dimension which are going to guide the empirical analysis in the sixth chapter.
