What interests are represented by these groups? There are several types of interest groups, among them business and agricultural groups, labor groups, professional associations, public interest groups, ideological groups, and public-sector groups.
What are the organizational components of interest groups? The key organizational components of an interest group include leadership, money, an agency or office, and members.
Many groups are initially organized by political entrepreneurs with a strong commitment to a particular set of goals.
The organization must build a financial structure capable of sustaining the organization and funding the group's activities. All interest groups must attract and keep members, but find the problem of "free riders" difficult to overcome because, whether the people join an interest group or not, an effective group causes a "collective good" which cannot be denied to nonmembers.
Groups provide material, solidary, purposive, and informational benefits to attract and retain members. Interest group members tend to have higher incomes, higher levels of education, and tend to be in management or professional occupations. The Proliferation of Groups Why has the number of interest groups grown in recent years? There has been a dramatic increase in the number and types of interest groups over the last forty years.
The s and s saw an expansion of federal authority over a broad range of public policy issues and a corresponding increase in the number of interest groups to put pressure on government officials.
This is often accompanied by one of the above types of advocacy groups filing Amicus curiae if the cause at stake serves the interests of both the legal defense fund and the other advocacy groups. Political parties are lobbied vigorously by organizations, businesses, and special interest groups such as trades unions.
A party or its leading members may be offered money or gifts-in-kind. These donations are the traditional source of funding for all right-of-center cadre parties. They started a new party type, the mass membership party, and a new source of political fundraising, membership dues.
Social movements are a type of group action. They are large informal groupings of individuals or organizations which focus on specific political or social issues. In other words, they carry out, resist or undo a social change. Political science and sociology have developed a variety of theories and empirical research on social movements. For example, some research in political science highlights the relation between popular movements and the formation of new political parties as well as discussing the function of social movements in relation to agenda setting and influence on politics.
In most liberal democracies, advocacy groups tend to use the bureaucracy as the main channel of influence. In liberal democracies, bureaucracy is where the decision-making power lies. Advocacy groups can also exert influence on political parties, and have often done so. The main way groups exert their influence is through campaign finance. In the US, George W. It was financed mainly by large corporations and industrial interests.
In contrast to the conservative right, left-wing parties are often funded by organized labor. When the Labor Party was first formed, it was largely funded by trade unions.
Similarly, political parties are often formed as a result of group pressure. For example, the Labour Party in the UK was formed out of the new trade-union movement, which lobbied for the rights of workers. George W. Bush : George W. More often than not, lobbying coalitions enter into conflict with each other. For example, in the issue of free trade, some corporate lobbyists seek to eliminate or dismantle tariffs, promoting free trade and the free movement of goods and services.
By contrast, lobbyists representing farmers and rural interests seek to maintain or reinforce existing tariffs. It is in their best interest to preserve the status quo. If tariffs are reduced or eliminated, then American farmers are forced to compete with farmers from other trading countries. As these coalitions enter into conflict, congressmen must choose how to vote in the face of different pressures from different constituencies.
Privacy Policy. Skip to main content. Interest Groups. Search for:. The Constitutional Right to Petition the Government The Supreme Court has ruled that petitioning the government by way of lobbying is protected by the Constitution as free speech. Learning Objectives Describe the constitutional warrant for lobbying the government. Key Takeaways Key Points The ability of individuals, groups, and corporations to lobby the government is protected by the right to petition in the First Amendment.
Lobbying, properly defined, is subject to control by Congress. Key Terms direct lobbying : Direct lobbying refers to methods used by lobbyists to influence legislative bodies through direct communication with members of the legislative body, or with a government official who formulates legislation. First Amendment : The first of ten amendments to the constitution of the United States, which protects freedom of religion, speech, assembly, and the press.
Supreme Court : The highest court in the United States. Value or Price. Interest Groups The term interest group refers to virtually any voluntary association that seeks to publicly promote and create advantages for its cause.
Learning Objectives Discuss the main actors who work for interest groups and seek to influence policy. Key Takeaways Key Points Interest groups include corporations, charitable organizations, civil rights groups, neighborhood associations, professional, and trade associations. Some groups are supported by powerful business or political interests and exert considerable influence on the political process.
This includes corporations, charitable organizations, civil rights groups, neighborhood associations, and professional and trade associations. Organization of Interest Groups Interest groups can come in varied forms and organize under different methods. Learning Objectives Discuss the theories behind interest groups and their effects on government.
Occupational organizations promote the professional and economic interests of workers in a particular occupation, industry, or trade, through interaction with the government, and by preparing advertising and other promotional campaigns to the public.
Interest groups can be technical or non technical. Some are dedicated to unions while others to specific interests. Their organization and operations can be based on any of three theories: pluralism, neo-pluralism, and corporatism. The Characteristics of Members Membership interests represent individuals for social, business, labor, or charitable purposes to achieve political goals.
Learning Objectives Explain the benefits and incentives of joining interest groups. Key Takeaways Key Points An interest group is a group of individuals who share common objectives, and whose aim is to influence policymakers. Mancur Lloyd Olson sought to understand the logical basis of interest group membership and participation.
Key Terms interest group : Collections of members with shared knowledge, status, or goals. In many cases, these groups advocate for particular political or social issues. The use of the Internet to raise money has also made it possible for even small groups to receive funding.
Over the last few decades, we have also witnessed an increase in professionalization in lobbying and in the sophistication of lobbying techniques. This was not always the case, because lobbying was not considered a serious profession in the mid-twentieth century.
Over the past three decades, there has been an increase in the number of contract lobbying firms. These firms are often effective because they bring significant resources to the table, their lobbyists are knowledgeable about the issues on which they lobby, and they may have existing relationships with lawmakers.
In fact, relationships between lobbyists and legislators are often ongoing, and these are critical if lobbyists want access to lawmakers. However, not every interest can afford to hire high-priced contract lobbyists to represent it. A great deal of money is spent on lobbying activities. We have also seen greater limits on inside lobbying activities.
Today, restrictions limit the types of gifts and benefits lobbyists can bestow on lawmakers. The regulation of lobbying is addressed in greater detail below. Participation in the United States has never been equal; wealth and education, components of socioeconomic status, are strong predictors of political engagement.
We already discussed how wealth can help overcome collective action problems, but lack of wealth also serves as a barrier to participation more generally. These types of barriers pose challenges, making it less likely for some groups than others to participate. And with these resources, they can write a check to a political campaign or hire a lobbyist to represent their organization. Writing a check and hiring a lobbyist are unlikely options for a disadvantaged group. Individually, the poor may not have the same opportunities to join groups.
Further, there are often financial barriers to participation. For someone who punches a time-clock, spending time with political groups may be costly and paying dues may be a hardship. Certainly, the poor are unable to hire expensive lobbying firms to represent them.
Minorities may also participate less often than the majority population, although when we control for wealth and education levels, we see fewer differences in participation rates. Still, there is a bias in participation and representation, and this bias extends to interest groups as well.
Unlike their opponents, these minimum-wage workers in Minnesota have limited ways to make their interests known to government. Finally, people do not often participate because they lack the political skill to do so or believe that it is impossible to influence government actions. Participation usually requires some knowledge of the political system, the candidates, or the issues. How do these observations translate into the way different interests are represented in the political system?
Some pluralist scholars like David Truman suggest that people naturally join groups and that there will be a great deal of competition for access to decision-makers. While most scholars agree that some interests do have advantages, others have questioned the overwhelming dominance of certain interests.
Additionally, neo-pluralist scholars argue that certainly some interests are in a privileged position, but these interests do not always get what they want. Even wealthy interests do not always win if their position is at odds with the wish of an attentive public. And if the public cares about the issue, politicians may be reluctant to defy their constituents. If a prominent manufacturing firm wants fewer regulations on environmental pollutants, and environmental protection is a salient issue to the public, the manufacturing firm may not win in every exchange, despite its resource advantage.
We also know that when interests mobilize, opposing interests often counter-mobilize, which can reduce advantages of some interests. Thus, the conclusion that businesses, the wealthy, and elites win in every situation is overstated.
The chart above shows the dollar amounts contributed from PACs, soft money including directly from corporate and union treasuries , and individual donors to Democratic blue and Republican red federal candidates and political parties during the — election cycle, as reported to the Federal Election Commission. Interest group politics are often characterized by whether the groups have access to decision-makers and can participate in the policy-making process.
The iron triangle is a hypothetical arrangement among three elements the corners of the triangle that illustrates the often real relationships in government: an interest group, a congressional committee member or chair, and an agency within the bureaucracy. Each element has a symbiotic relationship with the other two, and it is difficult for those outside the triangle to break into it.
The congressional committee members, including the chair, rely on the interest group for campaign contributions and policy information, while the interest group needs the committee to consider laws favorable to its view.
The interest group and the committee need the agency to implement the law, while the agency needs the interest group for information and the committee for funding and autonomy in implementing the law. Influence depends on a number of factors in the political environment such as public opinion, political culture, competition for access, and the relevance of the issue.
Many people criticize the huge amounts of money spent in politics. Some argue that interest groups have too much influence on who wins elections, while others suggest influence is also problematic when interests try to sway politicians in office. There is little doubt that interest groups often try to achieve their objectives by influencing elections and politicians, but discovering whether they have succeeded in changing minds is actually challenging because they tend to support those who already agree with them.
Interest groups support candidates who are sympathetic to their views in hopes of gaining access to them once they are in office. Both the NRA and the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence an interest group that favors background checks for firearm purchases have grading systems that evaluate candidates and states based on their records of supporting these organizations.
In much the same way, Americans for Democratic Action, a liberal interest group, and the American Conservative Union, a conservative interest group, both rate politicians based on their voting records on issues these organizations view as important.
Incumbents have electoral advantages in terms of name recognition, experience, and fundraising abilities, and they often receive support because interest groups want access to the candidate who is likely to win. Sometimes, interest groups even hedge their bets and give to both major party candidates for a particular office in the hopes of having access regardless of who wins.
Some interests groups form political action committees PACs , groups that collect funds from donors and distribute them to candidates who support their issues. For example, the MoveOn. Corporations and associations spend large amounts of money on elections via affiliated PACs. This chart reveals the amount donated to Democratic blue and Republican red candidates by the top ten PACs during the most recent election cycle.
PACs through which corporations and unions can spend virtually unlimited amounts of money on behalf of political candidates are called super PACs. Federal Election Commission , there is no limit to how much money unions or corporations can donate to super PACs. If the elections were any indication, super PACs will continue to spend large sums of money in an attempt to influence future election results. Interest groups support candidates in order to have access to lawmakers once they are in office.
Lawmakers, for their part, lack the time and resources to pursue every issue; they are policy generalists. These voting cues give lawmakers an indication of how to vote on issues, particularly those with which they are unfamiliar.
But lawmakers also rely on lobbyists for information about ideas they can champion and that will benefit them when they run for reelection.
Interest groups likely cannot target all lawmakers in both the House and the Senate, nor would they wish to do so. There is little reason for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence to lobby members of Congress who vehemently oppose any restrictions on gun access.
Instead, the organization will often contact lawmakers who are amenable to some restrictions on access to firearms. Thus, interest groups first target lawmakers they think will consider introducing or sponsoring legislation.
Second, they target members of relevant committees. Many members of these committees represent congressional districts with military bases, so they often sponsor or champion bills that allow them to promote policies popular with their districts or state.
Interest groups attempt to use this to their advantage. Since lawmakers cannot possess expertise on every issue, they defer to their trusted colleagues on issues with which they are unfamiliar. So targeting committee members also allows the lobbyist to inform other lawmakers indirectly. Finally, since legislation must past both chambers in identical form, interest groups may target members of the conference committees whose job it is to iron out differences across the chambers. At this negotiation stage, a 1 percent difference in, say, the corporate income tax rate could mean millions of dollars in increased or decreased revenue or taxation for various interests.
The pro-life gathering is held each year around the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision. Interest groups also target the budgetary process in order to maximize benefits to their group. In some cases, their aim is to influence the portion of the budget allocated to a given policy, program, or policy area. For example, interests for groups that represent the poor may lobby for additional appropriations for various welfare programs; those interests opposed to government assistance to the poor may lobby for reduced funding to certain programs.
It is likely that the legislative liaison for your university or college spends time trying to advocate for budgetary allocations in your state.
Once legislation has been passed, interest groups may target the executive branch of government, whose job is to implement the law. The U. Other entities within the executive branch, like the Securities and Exchange Commission, which maintains and regulates financial markets, are not designed to be responsive to the interests they regulate, because to make such a response would be a conflict of interest.
Interest groups may lobby the executive branch on executive, judicial, and other appointments that require Senate confirmation. As a result, interest group members may be appointed to positions in which they can influence proposed regulation of the industry of which they are a part.
Hodges decision is announced. Credit: modification of work by Matt Popovich.
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