American Government and Organization

1
American Government and Organization

• PS1301
• Monday, 22 March

2
Announcements

• Next midterm will be scheduled for Wednesday,
  April 7th (not Friday April 9th)
• Please take the quiz in Chapter 10
• Please read the chapter, Who Won and Who Lost?
  Interest Group Politics after September 11 in
  American Politics After September 11 on atomic
  dog website.

3
Midterm Scores

• Midterm grades will be posted later today on HH
  214
• Mean score is 72 and top score of 92 (a
  considerable improvement from the first midterm)
• Add 6 points to your score

4
Why then would anyone vote?

• Voting is the most common form of political
  participation
• Many people also talk about politics and try to
  persuade others to vote
• Very few participate in any other specific way.

5
Interest Groups

• An interest group is an organized body of
  individuals who share some goals and who try to
  influence public policy

6
Types of Interest Groups

• Economic interest groups
• Business
• Organized labor, ie. AFL-CIO, Teamsters
• Agriculture groups
• Professional associations, ie. American Bar
  Association, American Medical Association
• Citizen groups
• Broad vs. single issue groups
• ie. Americans for Democratic Action, Greenpeace,
  National Rifle Association

7
Logic of Collective Action

• Collective goods and free riders
• Why join?
• Selective benefits of membership that are
  received by people who join the group
• Material
• Solidary
• Expressive

8
How Interest Groups Influence the Policy Process
Inside Beltway
Outside Beltway
Direct
Indirect
9
Lobbying

• Members of congress can be divided into (5)
  groups
• 1. Active, favors get bills on the floor
• 2. Inactive, favors. Lobbyists concentrate 80 of
  the efforts on these types of legislators they
  try to get the inactive members to become active
• 3. Neutral (20)
• 4. Inactive, against
• 5. Inactive, opposed
• Basic Rules when you see someone opposed to you,
  you dont talk to them. Minimize contact and
  dont bring up the issue
• Contrary to conventional wisdom, lobbyists do not
  put pressure on members (or threaten them)
  because they dont want to lose access. They are
  not arm-twisters.

10
Political Action Committees (PACs)

• PACs constitute the primary avenue by which
  interest groups contribute money to federal
  election campaigns
• Federal campaign finance law prohibits PACs from
  giving more than 5,000 per election to any
  candidate seeking federal office. (primary,
  general, run-off elections are considered
  separate)
• Types of PACs see list of Pacronyms

11
Growth in PACs
12
Changes in PAC contributions to Congress

• See Figure 10-3 p.335.