This volume explores the relationship between parliaments and pressure groups. Pressure groups - or interest groups, to use a more neutral term - are intrinsic to a liberal democracy. Yet remarkably little is known about the relationship between parliaments and pressure groups in western Europe. This may be because such activity is hidden, non-existent, or deemed to be of no importance, but it is important to know which it is in order to understand fully the workings of a political system.