AP GOV REVIEW
SESSION 10
INTEREST GROUPS & POLICY-MAKING
Interest Groups
Linkage Institution
***Advocating for policy outcomes***
Questions to consider:
Primary goal of interest groups.
Their most important commodity?
Who gets access?
Root causes of interest groups?
What protects them?
Who joins interest groups?
Check on interest groups?
What is Lobbying
Access points
Grassroots
Single-issue
Chamber of Commerce
NAACP
Green Peace
K Street
Most effective strategies?
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AP GOV REVIEW
SESSION 10
INTEREST GROUPS & POLICY-MAKING
Definition and 3 characteristics: organization of people with similar policy goals that
tries to influence the political process
Four basic types and what they do:
1. SHARED INTEREST AND GOALS
1. Businesses- large corporations and businesses i.e.
2.ORGANIZED STRUCTURE
2. Groups of individuals- Typically professional organizations, doctors,
lawyers, etc. Also labor unions and trade workers. American Medical
Association and Trial Lawyers are good example
3. Ideological- Environment, civil rights, religious, heath care, etc. often
single issue, can be temporarily powerful as public interest rallies, i.e.
Tea Party, also GreenPeace
4. Government- groups that represent local and state as well as foreign
government. County and state government interest groups
3. WANT TO INFLUENCE PUBLIC POLICY
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***KEY DIFFERENCES BETWEEN INTEREST GROUPS AND POLITICAL PARTIES***
1. Interest groups have a narrow focus
2. Focused on policy issues. NOT running people for office
1. Political parties have a much broader focus than interest groups. Want to include
more people and ideas
2. Exist to WIN ELECTIONS
3.More ideologically focused
3. More mainstream. Appeals more to the political center than extreme right or left
***KEY SIMILARITIES BETWEEN INTEREST GROUPS AND POLITICAL PARTIES***
1. Both are self-interested and can be considered factions in Federalist 10. Political parties check each other’s power as well as competing interest groups.
2. Both use each other and supplement each other
3.Both raise money, raise awareness, recruit people and are linkage institutions (access points for citizens to the government)
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AP GOV REVIEW
SESSION 10
INTEREST GROUPS & POLICY-MAKING
Interest groups
Term, idea, concept etc.
Definition or examples
Pluralist theory-
This theory of representation believes that groups are
all vying for control with not one group dominating
the other. Each group can serve as a check on the
other. Compromise is necessary
Hyperpluralist theory-
Pluralist theory on steroids. Too many groups
demanding too much from government. Government
policy-makers are unable to make decisions. The
result is gridlock.
Elite theory-
Theory that revolves around the economic strata of
society controlling the policy agenda. Translation= the
rich and the powerful are the ones that make the
decisions.
Why do people join? (3 reasons)
Here’s why it’s important:
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1.
Solidary benefits-
People join groups to be with others like themselves
National Audubon Society
2.
Material benefits-
People who join these groups get actual material
benefits like member services and discounts
AARP and AAA
3.
Purposeful benefits-
Typically ideological. People join these groups for
obtaining a common goal or purpose larger than the
individual member themselves
National Right to Life other anti-abortion
groups
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Approaching government personally. Often members
of Congress and employees of the federal bureaucracy
NOT JUST GIVING MONEY. Supplying legislators
and agency personnel with technical
information.
The is the actual campaign arm of interest groups.
Forming Political Action Committees (PACS) and
donating to campaigns
Ways interest groups shape policy (2)
1.
Lobbying
2.
Electioneering
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AP GOV REVIEW
SESSION 10
3.
Litigation-
4.
Supplying credible information
5.
Going public
6.
Employing former government officials
INTEREST GROUPS & POLICY-MAKING
Often will finance and provide legal representation in
Supreme Court cases. Also may file amicus briefs.
Free-rider problem
NAACP in Brown v. Board
PROBABLY THE MOST IMPORTANT
Taking the message directly to the public
Television and ad campaigns
Also known as the “revolving door”
Interest groups will higher insiders or former
government officials. This gives them an inside
edge. Likewise, government agencies will often
hire members of interest groups as well.
Problem faced by unions and other groups when
people do not join because they can benefit from the
group’s activities without actually joining the group
Best example would be minimum wage fought
for by the AFL-CIO
Iron Triangles (subgovernments) vs. Issue Networks ***(Iron Triangles are ALWAYS on the AP Exam)***
Iron triangles
Issue networks
Iron triangles are defined as the relationship between Congressional committees,
federal agencies and interest groups. All are driven by mutual self-interest
Issue networks are seen as a check on interest groups. They typically are made up
of government official, members of the media, professors, academic types and
bloggers etc.
Typically will pursue narrow goals that do not directly benefit the public
They typically pursue policies that are beneficial to the public a whole rather than
a select group of elites
Policy-making and political agendas
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AP GOV REVIEW
Term, idea, concept etc.
SESSION 10
INTEREST GROUPS & POLICY-MAKING
Definition or examples
Here’s why it’s important:
Policies that promise benefits to large numbers of
people at a cast that large groups of people will have
to bare.
Good example is Social Security. usually
resolved in public or in debate
Proposed policies benefit a relatively small,
identifiable group and impose costs on other small
groups
A bill requiring business firms to give benefits
to labor unions
Client politics
Some identifiable small group will benefit but a large
part of society will pay the cost
Regulated dairy prices benefit dairy farmers but
raise prices for milk consumers
Entrepreneurial politics
A large part of society benefits from a policy that
imposes substantial costs on some small identifiable
segment of society
Safety requirements for automobiles, airbags
etc.
Definition or examples
Here’s why it’s important:
The manipulation of the supply of money by private
hands (the Federal Reserve Board in the U.S.) by
which the government can control and manipulate the
economy. Mainly to control inflation.
Regulated by the Fed:
Majoritarian politics
Interest group politics
Economic policy
Term, idea, concept etc.
Monetary policy
1.
Fed sets rates for banks to borrow
money. The fed can raise interest rates
to decrease the money supply to stop
inflation. Or lower them to stimulate
the economy.
2.
Sets reserve requirements for how
much money banks must keep on
reserve at all times. Can make it hard
for banks to loan out money.
3.
Can add money to the money supply
by buying bonds thus injecting money
into the economy. Downside is
potential for inflation. Fed can sell
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AP GOV REVIEW
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INTEREST GROUPS & POLICY-MAKING
bonds to increase the money supply to
stimulate the economy
Fiscal policy
Impact of the federal budget (spending, taxes and
borrowing) on the overall economy.
Political process. How much should the
government spend, borrow etc. and how will it
affect economy growth.
Keynesian economic theory
Theory typically argued from the political left= liberal.
Government should take on deficit spending in times
of economic trouble. When the private sector cannot
act the government should.
Short-term growth. Leads to deficits. May or
may not work. Bets on the future. Backbone of
the New Deal of the 1930’s.
“Supply-side” economics
Theory of the ideological right= conservative Theory
that too much income is taken up by taxes leaving
little money for private purchasing power. Therefore
tax cuts, especially at the higher levels of the
socioeconomic ladder, will generate economic growth
by trickling down to the middle class and beyond.
Economic policy under Reagan
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