INTEREST GROUPS
Ryan D. Williamson
7 April 2015
Agenda
• Attendance
• Schedule for rest of semester
• Lecture on interest groups
• Reading for Thursday
Remaining Schedule
April 7: Kollman ch. 11
April 9: B&G ch. 12, review, course evaluations
April 14: Kollman ch. 9, Quiz 4
April 16: No class
April 21: Kollman ch. 13
April 23: B&G ch. 13, Quiz 5, review
May 5: Final Exam
Questions?
Objectives
• Distinguish between interest groups and social
movements.
• Explain the role of collective action problems in
politics.
• Describe strategies interest groups use to try to
influence policy.
Interest Groups
• Any group other than a party that is organized to
influence government
• Usually have a narrower focus than parties
• Lobbying a common action
• Most interest groups in the US represent
business
• Another type of interest groups is public interest
groups
Interest Groups by Type
Social Movements
• Groups that use popular participation to influence
government
• Social movement are not formal organizations
• Can be made up of many interest groups
• Develop when groups feel excluded from the
political process
Social Movements
Understanding Social Movements
• Why do some succeed in mobilizing people while
others fail?
• Overcoming collective-action problems
• Having established groups and organzations
Collective Dilemmas and Group Politics
• Free rider problem is endemic to organizing
• Easy to free ride on the work of interest groups
and social movements
• Overcoming collective-action problems
• Groups are more likely to succeed when they exist not
just to influence politics and when they curb free riding
Strategies for Overcoming
Collective-action Problems
• Offering selective incentives
• Contributions from special donors
• Reliance on entrepreneurs
Coordination Problems for Groups
with Similar Goals
• Joining forces helps form broad coalitions, but
can also lead to coordination problems
• Overcoming coordination problems
• Find a common message
• Focus lobbying on the same people in government
• Organize strategies
Questions?
Determining Group Power
• Can be difficult to measure the effect of lobbying
• Many factors might influence a legislator’s vote
• Interest groups tend to lobby those who favor their
cause already
• Pluralism in American politics
• Interests of the wealthy are overrepresented
Access to Members of Congress
• Legislators tend to grant more access to two
types of groups
• Groups that represent constituents
• Groups that contribute to their campaigns
Inside and Outside Lobbying
• Inside lobbying
• Interest groups making direct contact with policy makers
• For example, meeting with legislators, giving money
• Outside lobbying
• Mobilizing people outside the legislature to put pressure
on policy makers
• For example, letter writing, advertisements, protests
Campaign Financing
• Interest groups give billions of dollars to federal
candidates
• Helps get the groups access and attention in the
future
Campaign Financing
Campaign Contributions: A Prisoner’s Dilemma
In Comparison
• US has more active and numerous interest
groups than other democracies
• More points of access and pluralism
• Parliamentary democracies have few points of
access
• Laws in other countries restrict kinds of lobbying
• Corporatist style of interest representation
Questions?
For next time…
• Read Bullock and Gaddie ch. 12