• Definition: an interest group is
– a group with common interests
– that is organized
– With the goal of influencing government policy.
• Traditional and popular view:
– interest groups are a sinister and corrupting force,
– whose influence should be minimized.
• Dominant political science view:
– Interest groups play a partially positive role, because
• most individuals can’t (or don’t) speak for themselves;
• groups communicate problems and preferences to legislators and other public officials; and
• they represent functional vs. geographic groups (e.g., legislative constituencies)

• Typical Elements of Organization:
– Name (see next slide)
– Formal membership
• constitutional structure
• often confederal (i.e., groups of groups)
– Members pay dues, giving the organization financial resources
– Officers:
• President
• Council
– Headquarters and staff
• Executive Director
• Public relations
• legislative liaison
• “hired gun” lobbying firms

Types
And
Varieties of
Interest
Groups

• Narrow (special) interest groups:
– Trade Associations [confederations of corporations in particular industries]
• Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA)
• Recording Industry Association (RIA)
• American Petroleum Institute
• Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America
(PhRMA)
• National Association of Broadcasters (AAB)
• National Bankers Association (NBA)
• American Truckers Association (ATA)
• Association of American Railroads (AAR)
• Tobacco Institute

– Professional Associations:
• American Medical Association (AMA)
– American College of Surgeons
– American Academy of Family Physicians
• American Bar Association (ABA)
– Trial Lawyers Association
• National Education Association (NEA)
• American Political Science Association (APSA)
– Unions:
• United Auto Workers (UAW)
• International Brotherhood of Teamsters
• American Federation of Teachers (AFT)
• American Federation of State, County, and Municipal
Employees (AFSCME)

• “Peak Associations”
– Business
• National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) [a confederation of manufacturing corporations]
• U.S. Chamber of Commerce [a confederation of retail businesses]
• Business Roundtable
• American Farm Bureau Federation
– Labor:
• American Federation of Labor – Congress of Industrial
Organizations (AFL-CIO) [a confeder-ation of labor unions]

• Single-Issue [or Issue Area] Groups
– Anti-Saloon League
– National Rifle Association (NRA)
– American Automobile Association (AAA)
– Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD)
– National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL Pro-
Choice America)
– National Right-to-Life Committee
– Sierra Club
– Environmental Defense Fund

• Broad interest groups:
– Demographic groups:
• American Association of Retired Persons (AARP)
• National Organization of Women (NOW)
• National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP)
• American Legion
– Ideological
• Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) [liberal]
• National Conservative Political Action Committee
• People for the American Way [liberal]

• Public interest groups:
– Common Cause
– Public Citizen [Ralph Nader]
– Public Interest Research Groups (PIRG)
• Governmental Associations:
– National Association of Counties
– National Conference of State Legislatures
– National League of Cities
– U.S. Conference of Mayors

• Alexis de Toqueville: In no country in the world has the principle of association been more successfully used or applied to a greater multitude of objects than in America.
• Social pluralism (cf. Madison, Federalist #10)
• Any government regulates, taxes, and spends in ways that affect different groups differently, giving groups an incentive to influence government decisions.
– A democratic government (with citizen rights) is in effect an invitation to form interest groups.
– A fragmented governmental system (separation of powers, bicameralism, federalism, etc.) provides many points of influence.
– Weak political parties mean that individual legislators (as opposed to a few party leaders) can be profitably influenced by interest groups
• The increased complexity of economy and society has
– increased reach of government activity, and
– brings about “arms race” effects among groups (if our competitors are organized, we have to get organized also).

• Direct services to members only (“selective incentives”):
– publications
– insurance
– AAA [originally founded to lobby for paved roads]: maps, roadside service
• Lobbyist activities:
– information from organization to decision makers
– intelligence from decision makers to organization
• Insider lobbying (often behind the scenes and not very visible activity with respect to issues that get little public attention):
– access (to legislators and other decision makers);
– persuasion (try to convert legislators to your side on some issue);
– mobilization (try to get legislators who are already on your side on some issue to become more active on this issue);
– litigation.

• Outsider pressure (more visible activities often with respect to issues of general public concern):
– public relations (influencing public opinion)
– issue advocacy
– mobilization
• letter writing campaigns, etc.
• petitions
• demonstrations, etc. [civil rights movement].
• Electoral activities (PACs [political action committees]):
– Make campaign contributions (perhaps to both sides to get access whoever wins) vs.
– taking sides in elections
• endorsements
• voter mobilization
• coordinated or independent activities

• A common view among American scientists about 50 years ago
(e.g., (David Truman, The Governmental Process ) : the public interest may be defined as compromises negotiated among organized interest groups and ratified in legislation.
• More recent critique of group theory: interests are not equally represented by organized groups (Mancur Olson, Logic of Collective
Action )
– Some groups are easier to organize than others: those characterized by
• small size,
• geographical concentration,
• a very high stake in policy/issue area, and/or
• very intense preferences, and
• not subject to crosscutting pressures.
– Free rider/collective action problems (emphasized by Olson; see K&J,
Chapter 1)
• Values of selective incentives if available
• narrowly shared intense preferences vs. widely shared shallow preferences, e.g.,
– wheat farmers vs. people who eat bread and cereal,
– produces vs. consumers generally

“Public Opinion Rules”
Governing
Polarized [interest groups on both sides]
Majoritarian [interest groups on both sides]

Public Opinion Does Not Rule
Permissive: an unopposed interest group gets its way or several groups compromise
Intense Minority: an unopposed interest group probably gets it way (unless defeated by a
“political entrepreneur”)
Factional: directly opposed interest groups fight it out (each tries, without much success, to bring public opinion to its side)