American Government Interest Groups

Interest Groups Factions ● Faction, according to James Madison ○ A group of citizens, united by some common passion or interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the interests of the community ○ Madison feared factions, and argued for a constitutional design that would limit their influence Interest Groups ● 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 ● Super PAC: special PACs which have no limitations on how much money they can spend on a candidate’s behalf, but do not allow the group to coordinate with the campaign Why Do People Join Groups? ● Collective Action Problem: the difficulty in getting people to work together to achieve a common goal when the solution is costly and no one individual has an incentive to use resources to make it happen ○ group work in high school ● Collective good: a good or service that, by its very nature, cannot be denied to anyone who wants to consume it Free Rider Problem ● Free rider problem: although interest groups play an important role in securing and protecting citizen access to collective goods (public safety, clean air, national defense, etc.), citizens don’t have to contribute (time, money, etc. ) to their efforts in order to enjoy that good. ○ Free rider problem can make it hard for interest groups to attract members ● As a result, they have created selective incentives for membership (material, solidary, and expressive) ● Selective incentives: benefits that are available only to group members as an inducement to get them to join ○ Material benefits: selective incentives in the form of tangible benefits ○ Solidary benefits: related to the interaction and bonding among group members ○ Expressive benefits: derive from the opportunity to express values and beliefs and to be committed to a greater cause Roles of Interest Groups ● Representation ○ Lobbying: interest group activities aimed at persuading policymakers to support the group’s positions ● Participation ○ Mechanism for people sharing the same interests or pursuing the same policy goals to come together, pool resources, and channel their efforts for collective action. ● Education ○ Most important function is to educate policymakers ● Agenda building ○ Interest groups work to get the issues they care about onto that agenda and to make them a high priority for action ● Provision of program alternatives ○ Interest groups can supply alternative suggestions for how issues on the agenda should be dealt with ● Program monitoring ○ Helps the government decide whether to continue or change a policy Economic Interest Groups ● Groups that organize to influence government policy for the economic benefit of their members ○ Corporations and business associations ○ Unions and professional associations ○ Agricultural interest groups Equal Opportunity Interests Groups ● Organize to promote the civil and economic rights of underrepresented or disadvantaged groups ○ Age (e.g., AARP, Children’s Defense Fund) ○ Race and ethnicity (e.g., NAACP) ○ Gender (e.g., NOW) ○ Sexual orientation (e.g., GLAAD, Log Cabin Republicans) Public Interest Groups ● Organize to influence government to produce collective goods or services that benefit the general public ○ Environmental groups (e.g., Greenpeace) ○ Consumer groups (e.g., Consumers Union) ○ Religious groups (e.g., Christian Coalition) ○ Second amendment groups (e.g., NRA) ○ Reproductive rights groups (e.g., Planned Parenthood) ○ Others (e.g., ACLU, Amnesty International, Human Society, PETA) Government Interest Groups ● Groups that organize to represent foreign or domestic governments, and to lobby Congress and the president on their behalf ● Ethics rules have been initiated to prevent former government officials from working as foreign government lobbyists as soon as they leave office 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 Direct Lobbying: Congress ● Strategies for Congressional Lobbying ○ Personal contacts ○ Professional lobbyists ■ Revolving door: the tendency of public officials, journalists, and lobbyists to move between public and private sectors ○ Expert testimony ○ Campaign contributions ○ Coalition formation ● Attempts at lobbying reform ○ Lobbying Disclosure Act, 1995 ■ Required lobbyist to report how much they are paid, by whom, and what issues they are promoting ○ Honest Leadership and Open Government Act, 2007 ■ Tightened travel and gift restrictions and included multiple provisions Direct Lobbying: President ● Personal contacts within the White House are extremely important ● The White House has not been exempt from the revolving-door phenomenon ● Official contact point between the White House and interest groups is the Office of Public Engagement Direct Lobbying: The Bureaucracy ● Where Congress has delegated rule-making authority to federal agencies that implement the law ● Interest groups often try to gain an advantage by developing strong relations with regulating agencies Direct Lobbying: The Courts ● Interest groups also try to influence government policy by challenging the legality of laws or administrative regulations in the courts ○ Used by groups such as the NAACP, ACLU, Sierra Club, NRA Indirect Lobbying: The Public ● Educating the public ○ Issue advocacy ads: advertisements that support issues or candidates without telling constituents how to vote ● Mobilizing the public ○ Social protest: public activities designed to bring attention to political causes, usually generated by those without access to conventional means of expressing their views. ● Grassroots lobbying: indirect lobbying efforts that spring from widespread public concern ● Astroturf lobbying: used to manipulate or create public sentiment on an issues (astroturf = artificial grassroots)