Interest Groups

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Interest Groups
Government in America People, Politics, and
Policy Edwards/Wattenberg/Lineberry Ch
11 Keeping the Republic Barbour Wright Ch
13 Living Democracy Shea/Green/Smith Ch 13
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The Role of Interest Groups

• Interest group an organization of people with
  shared policy goals entering the policy process
  at several points to try to achieve those goals
• Interest groups pursue their goals in many
  arenas.
• Interest groups distinguishable from parties.
• Political parties fight election battles
  interest groups do not field candidates for
  office but may choose sides.
• Interest groups are policy specialists political
  parties are policy generalists.

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Groups in America

• Alexis de Tocqueville
• Amazed how Americans joined various groups from
  social to religious to political a nation of
  joiners
• Compared to Europeans, Americans much stronger
  tendency to join together to solve problems, to
  articulate collective interests and to form
  social and political relationships
• People living in democratic nations must join
  together to preserve their independence and
  freedoms
• The liberty of association has become a
  necessary guarantee against the tyranny of the
  majority. The most natural privilege of man,
  next to the right of acting for himself, is that
  of combining his exertions with those of his
  fellow-creatures, and of acting in common with
  them. I am therefore led to conclude that the
  right of association is almost as inalienable as
  the right of personal liberty.

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• Robert Putnam
• Bowling Alone membership in traditional
  organizations from the PTA, bowling leagues,
  fraternities, etc decreased significantly
• many Americans dont even know the names of their
  neighbors
• Computer technology creating a society of loners
• Critics argue increase in involved in
  grassroots local issues and youth sports clubs,
  reading clubs, bunko groups, crime patrols,
  advocacy groups, etc

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Interest groups Compare

• Faction a group of citizens united by some
  common passion or interest and opposed to the
  rights of other citizens or to the interests of
  the whole community
• Interest group an organization of individuals
  who share a common political goal and are united
  for the purpose of influencing government
  decisions
• Political action committee (PAC) the fundraising
  arm of an interest group

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Roles of interest groups

• Represent specific public interests govt
  allocates more attention to large groups than to
  individuals
• Lobbying interest group activities aimed at
  persuading policymakers to support the groups
  positions
• Provide a means of political participation
• Educate the public thru research, congressional
  testimonies and public relations
• Agenda building - creates awareness of issues
• Provision of program alternatives
• Program monitoring assesses effectiveness of
  programs
• BEWARE ALWAYS BIASED!

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Key difference with party

• Interest groups seek to
• influence, not elect

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Why number of IGs grown so rapidly since the
1960s?

• 1) Cleavages divisions of people based on at
  least one social characteristic, such as
  educational attainment or race
• IG strive to gather supporters across social
  cleavages, serving as a unifying factor in a
  fragmented society
• 2) Federal system for IGs, dif access points or
  additional opportunities to petition govt
• 3) David Trumans disturbance theory theory
  that groups form whenever other interests are
  perceived as threatening or whenever the status
  quo is disturbed
• As society becomes more complex, divisions
  emerge, which then become the basis for new groups

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Proliferation of IGs (cont.)

• 4) Growth of govt itself IGs form as people try
  to gain a piece of the action or attempt to
  influence how govt allocates resources in
  exercising its new responsibilities
• 5) Americans are better educated and have more
  disposable income making them more likely to join
  IGs technology makes it easier to target and to
  contact potential members

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Theories of Interest Group Politics

• Pluralist Theory
• Politics is mainly a competition among groups,
  each one pressing for its own preferred policies.
• Elite Theory
• Societies are divided along class lines and an
  upper-class elite rules, regardless of the formal
  niceties of governmental organization.
• Hyperpluralist Theory
• Groups are so strong that government is weakened.
  This is an extreme, exaggerated form of pluralism.

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Theories of Interest Group Politics

• Pluralism and Group Theory
• Groups provide a key link between the people and
  the government.
• Groups compete and no one group will become too
  dominant.
• Groups play by the rules of the game.
• Groups weak in one resource may use another.
• Lobbying is open to all so is not problematical.

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Theories of Interest Group Politics

• Elites and the Denial of Pluralism
• Real power is held by the relatively few.
• The largest corporations hold the most power.
• Elite power is fortified by a system of
  interlocking directorates of these corporations
  and other institutions.
• Other groups may win many minor policy battles,
  but elites prevail when it comes to big policy
  decisions.
• Lobbying is a problem because it benefits the few
  at the expense of the many.

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Theories of Interest Group Politics - Elitism
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Theories of Interest Group Politics

• Hyperpluralism and Interest Group Liberalism
• Subgovernments consist of a network of groups
  that exercise a great deal of control over
  specific policy areas.
• Also known as iron triangles
• Consist of interest groups, government agency,
  and congressional committees that handle
  particular policies
• The hyperpluralist critique
• Groups have become too powerful as the government
  tries to appease every interest.
• Many subgovernments (iron triangles issue
  networks) aggravate the process.
• Trying to please every group results in
  contradictory policies and policy gridlock.

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Formulation of interest groups

• Common problem or threat
• Resource advantages
• Can pool together to stretch resources further
• Effective leadership
• Interest group entrepreneurs
• E.g., MADD, 9/11 Widows

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What Makes an Interest Group Successful?
Top 25 most POWERFUL lobbying groups in 2001
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What Makes an Interest Group Successful?

• The Surprising Ineffectiveness of Large Groups
• Potential group all the people who might be
  interest group members because they share a
  common interest
• Actual group the part of the potential group
  consisting of members who actually join
• Collective good a good or service, thaqt by its
  very nature, cannot be denied to anyone who wants
  to consume it ex. Public safety, clean air, natl
  defense

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What Makes an Interest Group Successful?

• Free-Rider problem Some people dont join
  interest groups because they benefit from the
  groups activities without officially joining.
• Bigger the group, larger the problem
• Large groups are difficult to organize
• Olsons law of large groups
• The larger the group, the further it will fall
  short of providing an optimal amount of a
  collective good.
• Overcome Olsons law by providing selective
  benefits
• Goods that a group can restrict to those who pay
  their annual dues

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What Makes an Interest Group Successful?

• Small groups are better organized and more
  focused on the groups goals.
• Multinational corporations are successful because
  there are few of them and, therefore, have an
  easier time organizing for political action.
• Consumer groups have a difficult time getting
  significant policy gains because the benefits are
  spread over the entire population.
• Public interest lobbies seek a collective good,
  the achievement of which will not selectively and
  materially benefit the membership activities of
  the organization.

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Overcoming the free rider problem

• Selective incentives benefits available only to
  group members as inducements to get them to join
• Material benefit selective incentive in the form
  of a tangible reward
• Discounts on air fares/hotels cheaper insurance
  rates free trips
• Solidary benefit selective incentive related to
  the interaction and bonding among group members
• Training classes, competitions, contests, hosts
  dinners

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Overcoming the free riderproblem, contd.

• Selective incentives, contd.
• Expressive or Purposive benefit selective
  incentive that derives from the opportunity to
  express values and beliefs and to be committed to
  a greater cause
• Expanding rights, increasing democracy
• Interest groups use a mix of incentives to
  encourage group membership

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What Makes an Interest Group Successful?
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What Makes an Interest Group Successful?

• Intensity
• Single-Issue groups groups that focus on a
  narrow interest, dislike compromise, and often
  draw membership from people new to politics
• Groups may focus on an emotional issue, providing
  them with a psychological advantage.
• Intensity encourages non-conventional means of
  participation. I.e.- protests

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What Makes an Interest Group Successful?

• Financial Resources
• Not all groups have equal amounts of money.
• Monetary donations usually translate into access
  to the politicians, such as a phone call,
  meeting, or support for policy.
• Wealthier groups have more resourcesand
  presumably more accessbut they do not always win
  on policy.

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The Interest Group Explosion
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Types of Interest Groups

• Economic Interests
• Labor
• Agriculture
• Business
• Environmental Interests
• Equality Interests
• Consumer and Public Interest Lobbies

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Types of interest groups

• Economic interest groups organize to influence
  government policy for the benefit of members
• Corporations and business associations
• E.g., National Association of Manufacturers,
  Chamber of Commerce, Tobacco Institute, General
  Electric
• Unions and professional associations
• E.g., AFL-CIO, Teamsters, AMA, ABA
• Agricultural interest groups
• E.g., American Farm Bureau, Altria, ConAgra

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Types of interest groups, contd.

• Equal opportunity interest groups organize to
  promote the civil and economic rights of
  underrepresented or disadvantaged groups
• Age
• E.g., AARP, Childrens Defense Fund
• Race and Ethnicity
• E.g., NAACP, LULAC, AIM
• Gender
• E.g., NOW, EMILYs List, Eagle Forum
• Sexual orientation
• E.g., GLAD, PFLAG, Log Cabin Republicans

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Types of interest groups, contd.

• Public interest groups organize to influence
  government to produce collective goods or
  services that benefit the general public
• Environmental groups
• E.g., Sierra Club, Greenpeace
• Consumer groups
• E.g., Public Citizen, Consumers Union
• Religious groups
• E.g., Christian Coalition, Anti-Defamation League

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Types of interest groups, contd.

• Public interest groups, contd.
• Second Amendment groups
• E.g., NRA, Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence
• Reproductive rights groups
• E.g., Planned Parenthood, National Right to Life
  Committee
• Human rights
• E.g., ACLU, Amnesty International
• Animal rights
• E.g., Humane Society, PETA

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Types of interest groups, contd.

• Government interest groups organize to lobby the
  U.S. federal government to influence national
  policy
• Foreign governments
• E.g., Japan
• State and local governments
• E.g., National Governors Association, National
  Conference of State Legislatures, U.S. Conference
  of Mayors
• Intergovernmental interests

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How Groups Try to Shape Policy

• Lobbying
• communication by someone other than a citizen
  acting on his own behalf, directed to a
  governmental decisionmaker with the hope of
  influencing his decision (Lester Milbrath)
• Two basic types of lobbyists
• Regular, paid employees of a group
• Temporary hires
• Sometimes referred to as policy entrepreneurs

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How Groups Try to Shape Policy

• Lobbying
• Lobbyists
• are a source of information
• help politicians plan political strategies for
  legislation
• help politicians plan political strategies for
  reelection campaigns
• are a source of ideas and innovations
• Mixed evidence as to whether lobbying works

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Interest group politics

• Direct lobbying direct interaction with public
  officials for the purpose of influencing policy
  decisions
• Indirect lobbying attempts to influence
  government policymakers by encouraging the
  general public to put pressure on them

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Direct lobbying Congress

• Strategies for congressional lobbying
• Personal contacts target congressional leaders
  and committee members, not whole HR or S
• Campaign contributions
• PACs recent regulations and loopholes coalition
• Use of professional lobbyists
• Revolving door tendency of public officials,
  journalists, and lobbyists to move between public
  and private sectors
• Providing expert testimony
• Accurate information to Congress

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Direct lobbying Congress, contd.

• Lobbying reform
• Federal Regulation of Lobbying Act, 1946
• Lobbying Disclosure Act, 1995
• Employs a strict definition of lobbyist
• Requires lobbyists to
• Register with the clerk of the House and the
  secretary of the Senate
• Report their clients and issues and the agency or
  house they lobbied
• Estimate the amount they are paid by each client
• Makes it easier for watchdog groups to track the
  lobbying activity
• Subsequent easing of restrictions
• Abramoff scandal increase pressure to reform
  then faded as other intersts (eco!) took headlines

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Direct lobbying, contd.

• The president
• Target president and Executive Office of the
  White House
• Office of Public Liaison
• Revolving door exists here as well
• The bureaucracy
• Lobby to get laws implemented favorably
• Strong relationship with regulators and private
  sector
• Iron triangles
• Issue networks
• The judiciary
• Can take two forms
• Direct sponsorship, ie. File suit
• Filing amicus curiae briefs
• Brief that informs the court of the groups
  policy preferences, generally in guise of legal
  arguments
• Interest groups also attempt to influence who is
  nominated and placed on the bench

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Indirect lobbying the public

• Education place issues on publics agenda using
  media, direct mail, and publicity stunts
• Issue advocacy ads
• Reforms
• 527 groups
• Mobilize the public
• Larger membership groups are more successful
• Get-out-the-vote

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Indirect lobbying the public, contd.

• Social protest and mass movements public
  activities designed to bring attention to
  political causes usually done by those without
  access to conventional means of expressing their
  views
• Unconventional tactics
• Violence! Ex. Bombings and burnings

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Astroturf political campaigns

• Grassroots lobbying indirect lobbying efforts
  that spring from widespread public concern
• Astroturf lobbying indirect lobbying efforts by
  interest groups that manipulate or create public
  sentiment, astroturf being artificial
  grassroots
• Pure grassroots lobbying is becoming increasingly
  rare, but astroturf public interest lobbying is
  growing
• Lobbying moving away from Congress to public, but
  this may not be any more democratic

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How Groups Try to Shape Policy

• Electioneering
• Direct group involvement in the election process
• Groups can help fund campaigns, provide
  testimony, and get members to work for
  candidates some form PACs.
• Political Action Committee (PAC) Political
  funding vehicles created by 1974 campaign finance
  reforms, PACs are used by interest groups to
  donate money to candidates.
• PACs help pay the bill for increasing campaign
  costs.
• Most PAC money goes to incumbents.

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How Groups Try to Shape Policy

• Litigation
• If an interest group fails in one arena, the
  courts may be able to provide a remedy.
• Interest groups can file amicus curiae briefs to
  influence a courts decision.
• amicus curiae briefs submitted by a friend of
  the court to raise additional points of view and
  present information not contained in the briefs
  of the formal parties
• Class Action lawsuits permit a small number of
  people to sue on behalf of all other people
  similarly situated.

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How Groups Try to Shape Policy

• Going Public
• Because public opinion makes its way to
  policymakers, groups try to
• cultivate a good public image to build a
  reservoir of goodwill with the public
• use marketing strategies to influence public
  opinion of the group and its issues
• advertise to motivate and inform the public about
  an issue

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Understanding Interest Groups

• Interest Groups and Democracy
• James Madisons solution to the problems posed by
  interest groups was to create a wide-open system
  in which groups compete.
• Pluralists believe that the public interest would
  prevail from this competition.
• Elite theorists point to the proliferation of
  business PACs as evidence of interest group
  corruption.
• Hyperpluralists maintain that group influence has
  led to policy gridlock.

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Understanding Interest Groups

• Interest Groups and the Scope of Government
• Interest groups seek to maintain policies and
  programs that benefit them.
• Interest groups continue to pressure government
  to do more things.
• As the government does more, does this cause the
  formation of more groups?

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Summary

• Group theories pluralism, elitism, and
  hyperpluralism
• A number of factors influence a groups success.
  I.e., being small or large
• Interest groups affect policy process through
  lobbying, electioneering, litigation, and going
  public.

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Vocab

• Honoraria fees for giving speeches at special
  events/dinners
• Advertorials advertisements presented as an
  editorial, not to promote a good or service but
  rather to promote a positive image or to advance
  a policy
• Ex. Oil company ad showing how they take pains to
  protect the environment
• Think tank nonprofit institutions or group of
  individuals that conduct research on issues of
  public interest or a particular area of public
  policy
• Revolving door practice of public officials,
  journalists and lobbyists to move between public
  and private sector jobs
• Sen Tom DeLay and Sen Bob Dole are now lobbyists
  for large corporate industries

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ISSUE NETWORKShttp//www.issue.net/

• Sometimes iron triangles face challenges for
  control of the bureaucracy from issue networks.
  These consist of political executives, career
  bureaucrats, management and policy consultants,
  academic researchers, journalists, foundation
  officers, and White House aides, all of whom want
  fundamental change in the way a bureau operates
  its programs. They think about the issues in a
  broader context than do members of iron
  triangles,... Competition among issue networks,
  and between them and iron triangles, is good for
  the White House and good for the country. ... It
  serves as an antidote for entrenched bureaucratic
  interests and political privilege. It enables
  outside policy entrepreneurs to gain access and
  compete with the iron triangles.

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Network vs. Triangle

• Issue networks are an alliance of various
  interest groups and individuals who unite in
  order to promote a single issue in government
  policy. Issue networks can be either domestic or
  international in scope, and many are active
  solely within the domain of the internet.
• Usually, issue networks push for a change in
  policy within the government bureaucracy. An
  example includes the wide ranging network of
  environmental groups and individuals who push for
  more environmental regulation in government
  policy. Other issue networks revolve around such
  controversial issues as abortion, gun ownership
  rights, and drug laws.
• In the United States, the various parties within
  an issue network include political executives,
  career bureaucrats, management and policy
  consultants, academic researchers, journalists,
  foundation officers, and White House aides.
• Iron triangles are the mutually beneficial
  relationships between interest groups, usually
  private businesses and corporations,
  congressional oversight committees, and federal
  agencies. The relationships within Iron Triangles
  seek only to benefit the three actors involved by
  pursuing a favorable policy for the interest
  group, at the expense of the constituencies that
  Congress and the Federal bureaucracy are supposed
  to represent, namely the general public.
• Issue Networks differ from Iron Triangles in that
  they seek to support the public interests, not
  private ones, by seeking to benefit a wide
  ranging constituency that supports their side of
  the issue. Issue networks can be antagonistic to
  iron triangles as they may oppose a policy pushed
  by a private interest group, and carried out by a
  government agency. This is particularly the case
  in regards to environmental issue networks that
  disagree with the lax environmental standards
  pursued by private energy companies. It is also
  important to note that different Issue networks
  also compete with one another, as in the case of
  proponents and opponents of abortion rights.

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