Interest Groups
Political Science I
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What is the nature of interest
groups?
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Nature of Interest Groups
• Interest group – (a.k.a. pressure group, organized
interest, or special interest) a group of people who join
for a political purpose and work together to influence
public policies about their shared interests
• Have a variety of labels
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Leagues
Associations
Clubs
Federations
Unions
Committees
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Nature of Interest Groups (continued)
• Differences between interest groups and
political parties
• Interest groups do not nominate candidates for
public office
• Interest groups want to influence policies, not
control the government
• Interest groups are privately owned and focus only
on the issues that affect the interests of their
members
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Nature of Interest Groups (continued)
• Functions
• Stimulate interest in public affairs
• Are vehicles for political participation
• Transmit information between their group and the
government
• Represent their members based on interests rather than
geography
• Monitor public agencies and officials to hold them
accountable
• Compete with other interest groups, which balances
the system
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Nature of Interest Groups (continued)
• Criticisms
• Push their own interests without regard for the
common good
• Allow unfair advantages for well-organized, betterfinanced groups
• Can be used as a front by small groups with narrow
interests
• May not represent the actual views of their members
• May use illegal tactics such as
• Bribery and other uses of money
• Overt threats of revenge
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What are the types of interest
groups?
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General Characteristics
• Any association that tries to influence public policy
• Very wide range of
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Membership size
Societal level
Organization
Wealth
Foundational interests
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Economic (most common)
Geographic
Ideological
Sociological
• Many people are members of more than one interest group
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Economic: Business Groups
• There are hundreds of business groups in the
US
• Two of the best known are
• National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) –
generally speaks for “big business”
• Chamber of Commerce of the United States –
speaks for smaller businesses across the nation
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Economic: Business Groups (continued)
• Trade associations
• Are present in most segments of the business
community
• Several industries are represented by the most
powerful interest groups today
• Pharmaceutical
• Oil
• Natural gas
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Economic: Labor Groups
• Labor union – is an organization of workers in
a shared industry
• Press for the interests of their member-workers
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Economic: Agricultural Groups
• Include many powerful associations
• National Grange
• American Farm Bureau Federation
• National Farmers Union
• Include many groups that speak for the producers of
specific products
• Wheat Growers
• National Cattlemen’s Beef Association
• Include other farm-related business groups
• Pesticide manufacturers
• Farm implement dealers
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Economic: Professional Associations
• Are generally defined as occupations that require extensive
training
• Medicine
• Law
• Teaching
• Are generally not as effective as most business, labor, and
farm groups, with the following exceptions
• American Medical Association (AMA)
• American Bar Association (ABA)
• National Education Association (NEA)
• Do not have the membership of everyone practicing the
represented profession (i.e. not all doctors are members of
the AMA)
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Issue-oriented Groups
• Are very numerous
• Are devoted to supporting or opposing a
specific cause such as
• Civil rights (American Civil Liberties Union
(ACLU))
• Women’s rights (National Women’s Political
Caucus)
• Conservation and Environmental Protection (Sierra
Club)
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Organizations for Specific Groups
• Seek to promote the welfare of specific groups
• Include the following examples
• Veterans (e.g. Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American
Legion)
• Senior Citizens (e.g. Older Americans, Inc., and the AARP)
• Ethnic Groups
• African Americans (e.g. National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People (NAACP) and the National Urban League)
• Japanese Americans (e.g. Japanese American Citizens League)
• Mexican Americans (e.g. Mexican American Legal Defense Fund)
• Arab Americans (e.g. National Association of Arab Americans)
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Religious Organizations
• Seek to promote the welfare of specific
religious groups
• Include the following examples
• Protestant (e.g. National Council of Churches, the
Christian Voice, and the Christian Coalition)
• Catholic (e.g. National Catholic Welfare Council)
• Jewish (e.g. American Jewish Congress and AntiDefamation League)
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Public-Interest Groups
• Have a broader focus and work for the best
interests of the overall community
• Seek policies that benefit all or most people
regardless of their membership status in the
organization
• Have become more prominent recently (e.g.
the Common Cause)
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How do interest groups affect
public policy?
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Directly Lobbying
• Lobbying – “process by which organized
interests attempt to affect the decisions and
actions of public officials” (McClenaghan,
2009)
• Lobbyists – people who represent interest
groups and lobby for their causes
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Directly Lobbying: Congress
• Prime place for making public policy in the
federal government
• Approaches that lobbyists use include
• Focus on individual members or on standing
committees
• Testify before congressional committees
• Submit prepared statements
• Make campaign contributions
• Write speeches
• Draft legislation
• Move their efforts to another branch of government
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Directly Lobbying: Executive Branch
• Writes many of the legislative details for the
laws that Congress enacts
• Lobbyists
• Focus on senior aides in the White House and
various agencies in the president’s administration
• Rely on their network of contacts
• Director of Public Liaison’s primary job is to
nurture the relationships of major and select
interest groups
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Directly Lobbying: The Courts
• Some interest groups use the courts as a means to
incite change (e.g. National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and
Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education)
• Representing fringe groups in court
• Filing an amicus curiae brief
• amicus curiae – means “friend of the court”
• Is a written argument presenting support for one side of an
issue in a court case even though the submitter is not a party
in the case
• Influencing the selection of federal judges
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Indirectly: Using Grassroots Lobbying
• Grassroots pressures – “pressures from members
of an interest group or from the people at large,
often beginning at a very basic level—to bear on
public officials” (McClenaghan, 2009)
• Methods
• Communication from group members (e.g. letters,
phone calls, faxes, emails)
• Internet (e.g. websites, email list, blogs, online
organizations)
• Demonstrations and protest marches
• Publish ratings of members of Congress
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Indirectly: Shaping Public Opinion
• Persuade a significant amount of people to view
the interest group and its cause in a positive
manner
• Convince its supporters to communicate their
opinion to Congress
• Methods
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Advertisements
Group’s membership
Public figures
Mass media
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Indirectly: Using Propaganda
• Is a technique of persuasion to influence
behaviors
• Has the goal to create a (true or false) belief
• Must be presented in simple, interesting, and
credible terms
• Does not use objective logic
• Begins with conclusion and then supports it
• Often uses name-calling (greedy, ultraliberal,
ultraconservative, etc.) and idealistic generalities (fair,
just, etc.)
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Indirectly: Electioneering
• Helps a candidate win public office in exchange for the official’s
promoting of the interest group’s cause by
• Shaping legislation
• Allocating money
• Uses political action campaigns (PACs), which perform a wide
range of tasks including
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Make financial contributions
Hold fundraisers
Conduct voter registration and get-out-and-vote drives
Supply professional campaign consultants
Provide information for campaign speeches
Help the staff in local campaign offices
• Distribute campaign literature
• Work phone banks
• Take voters to the polls on election day
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Resources
• McClenaghan, W. A. (2009). Magruder's
American Government, Pearson.
• Remy, Ph.D., R. C. (2010), United States
Government: Democracy in Action, Glencoe
McGraw-Hill.
• Wilson, J. Q., Dilulio Jr., J. J., and Bose,
M. (2011). American Government Institutions and
Policies, Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
• http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/powers_of_pers
uasion/powers_of_persuasion_home.html
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