ABSTRACT
Interest groups occupy an important position in France. At present, there are tens of thousands of associations, ranging from trade unions and business organizations with large memberships to small groups of students, and from nationally organized professional groups to purely local fellowships. 1 They play a crucial role in shaping political attitudes, in policy formulation, and even in the support of republican institutions. Groups are involved politically through their linkage to the formal decision-making organs, their alliance with political parties, and their direct “colonization” of Parliament and the civil service.
