During the 1970s, organized interests increasingly became involved in lobbying and advising the British government, often even administering public services. Known as "corporatism," this phenomenon involved professional organizations, trade associations, charities, and single-interest pressure groups, and was frequently the object of public hostility. Although by the 1980s, corporatism seemed to have been repudiated, evidence of corporatism continues. The book is the result of a study undertaken by the Social Science Research Council to investigate the accountability of the organizations and to determine if corporatism threatens parliamentary government.