Interest Groups
Chapter 11
Key Definitions

What is a special interest group?
– Organization of people with similar
policy goals who enter the political
process to try and achieve those aims
BUT don’t run their own candidates
for office
– Operate at every level of government
in the federal government.
Key Linkage Institutions
People
Political
Parties
Media
SIGS
Government
Key Linkage Institutions
People
Political
Parties
Media
SIGS
Government
Test Tip

The mass media, political
parties, and interest
groups are key linkage
institutions.
 Be sure you can identify
these linkage institutions.
 Be sure you can explain
the ways that they
connect citizens to the
government.
SIGS as a Linkage Institution
1.
2.
3.
4.
SIGS express their members’ preferences
to government policy makers.
SIGS convey government policy
information to their members.
Interest groups raise and spend money to
influence policymakers.
SIGS form PACS to funnel money to
candidates for winning elections
SIGS as a Linkage Institution
SIGS
1. Seek to support officials
and influence policy.
2. Focus on specific issues
that affect their
membership. As a result,
SIGS articulate specific
policy positions.
3. Private organizations
accountable to members
Political Parties
1. Nominate candidates,
contest elections, seek to
gain control of
government.
2. Have positions on wide
range of public issues.
3. Public organizations
accountable to voters
TYPES OF SIGS
Fortune Magazine 2001
Types of SIGS

Officials in the legislative and executive
branches of the federal government control
the distribution of billions of dollars.
 As a result, most industries, corporations,
professions and unions have SIGS
representing them in Washington D.C.
 The number of SIGS has increased from
6,000 in 1959 to approximately 22,000 in
2010.
Types of SIGS: Business Groups

National Association of Manufactures
represents 12,000 small and large
manufactures in every industrial sector and
all 50 states.
 NAM focuses on legislation affecting labor
laws, minimum wages, corporate taxes, and
trade regulations.
Types of SIGS: Business Groups
Chamber of Commerce is the world’s
largest business federation.
 Spends $20 million a year lobbying for
3000 local chambers and 3 million
members.

Types of SIGS: Business Groups

The Business Roundtable is an association
of about 150 CEOs of leading US
corporations with $5 trillion in annual
revenues and nearly 10 million employees.
Types of SIGS: Labor

The American labor movement reached its
peak in 1956 when 33% of the
nonagricultural work force belonged to
unions.
 Today, 16 million Americans, or about 13%
belong to a union.
Types of SIGS: Labor

The AFL-CIO is the largest labor union
both in size and political power.
 About 10 million workers are members of
unions belonging to the AFL-CIO
Types of SIGS: Agriculture

Although farmers comprise less that 2% of
the population, their interest groups play an
influential role.
 The Farm Bureau and the National Farmers
Union are broad-based organizations that
speak for farmers.
Types of SIGS: Agriculture

Specialized SIGS represent different farm
products.
 National Milk Producers Federation
Types of SIGS: Professional Associations

The National Education Association (NEA)
represents 3.2 million public school
teachers, support staff and retired educators.
Types of SIGS: Professional Associations

The American Medical Association (AMA)
is the largest association of doctors and
medical students.
Types of SIGS: Professional Associations

The American Bar Association (ABA) is an
association of over 410,000 lawyers and law
students.
Types of SIGS: Environmental Groups

Leading environmental
groups include the Sierra
Club, the Audubon Society
and the World Wildlife Fund.
 Environmental SIGS
support wilderness protection, pollution
control, and animal rights.
 They generally oppose strip mining, nuclear
power plants and offshore drilling.
Types of SIGS: Public Interest Groups

Over 2,000 groups
champion causes that
promote the public good.
 Leading groups include
Common Cause and the
League of Women
Voters.
Types of SIGS: Public Interest Groups
“Unsafe at any Speed”
 National Traffic and Motor
Vehicle Safety Act.

– National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration

Shift in responsibility for
auto safety from the
consumer to the
manufacturer.
– Seat belts
Types of SIGS: Equality Interests

The National Association
for the Advancement of
Colored People
(NAACP) is one of the
oldest advocacy civil
rights groups.
 The National
Organization for Women
is the largest group
dedicated to women's’
issues.
Types of SIGS: Single-Issue Groups

These groups focus all their efforts on one
issue. For example, the National Right to Life
Committee opposes legal abortion while
NARAL lobbies for legal abortion.
 The National Rifle Association is one of the
best known influential single issue groups.
GOALS AND STRATEGIES
SIGS: Goals

Fundamental Goals
1. Gain access to policymakers
2. Influence public policy
3. Support sympathetic
policymakers
SIGS: Strategies -- Lobbying

Lobbying: the process by which SIGS
attempt to influence the decisions of
policymakers.
– Important sources of information
– Help with strategy to pass legislation
– Help with campaign strategy and motivate
members to get involved
– Source of ideas and innovation

Does it work?
SIGS: Strategies -- Lobbying

Lobbying Congress
– 30,000 lobbyists spend over $2 billion
– Testify in congressional committees
– Provide information to members of Congress
– Meet with congressional aides
– Bring influential constituents to Washington to
meet with members of Congress
SIGS: Strategies -- Lobbying

“The better lobbyists, when they have a
proposal they are pushing, bring it to me
along with a couple of speeches, a Record
insert, and a fact sheet.”
SIGS: Strategies -- Lobbying

Lobbying the Executive Branch
– Most executive lobbying focuses on presenting
a point of view to White House aides and other
government officials.
– SIGS direct particular attention to regulatory
agencies.
SIGS: Strategies -- Lobbying

Lobbying the courts (litigation)
– Inappropriate to meet with members of the
courts.
– SIGS can and do take their issues to the courts
if they fail in the legislative and executive
branches. (Think Brown v. Board of
Education)


Amicus curiae briefs (someone, not a party to a
case, who volunteers to offer information to assist a
court in deciding a matter before it)
Play a role in nominations to the courts.
Test Tip

There has been at least
one MCQ about PACs on
every released exam.
 It is very important that
you understand the
function and impact of
PACs.
SIGS: Strategies – Contributing Money
(electioneering)

SIGS form PACs to raise money and make
contributions to candidates they support.
 PAC contributions are regulated.
(currently $5000 per candidate per election)

Over 4,600 registered PACs. Over half are
sponsored by business groups and
corporations.
 Play a significant role in supporting
incumbent members of the HOR.
SIGS: Strategies – Contributing Money
(electioneering)
527’s are another way that SIGS use money
to achieve their goals.
 527’s (named for the section of the law in which they were created)
can raise unlimited amounts of unregulated
money and use it for voter mobilization,
issue advocacy, but NOT for candidate
advocacy or to be given to candidates
 These are independent expenditures.
 Think Swift Boat for Veterans for Truth and
MoveOn.Org


The Senate: Lawyers, Drugs, and Money
SECTOR | # OF MEMBERS

Finance, insurance, and real estate 57
 Lawyers and lobbyists 25
 Health 5
 Agribusiness 3
 Labor 2
 Energy and natural resources 2
 Miscellaneous business 2
 Communications and electronics 1
 No money raised 3
Total seats | 100
Donations by Industry, 1989-2010
Top corporate donors in the '08 presidential race.
Obama
Goldman Sachs $994,795
2. Microsoft $833,617
3. Google $803,436
4. Citigroup $701,290
5. JPMorgan Chase $695,132
6. Time Warner $590,084
7. Sidley Austin $588,598
8. National Amusements
$551,683
9. UBS $543,219
10. WilmerHale $542,618
1.
McCain
Merrill Lynch $373,595
2. Citigroup $322,051
3. Morgan Stanley $273,452
4. Goldman Sachs $230,095
5. JPMorgan Chase $228,107
6. AT&T $201,438
7. Wachovia $195,063
8. UBS $192,493
9. Credit Suisse $183,353
10. PricewaterhouseCoopers
$167,900
1.
SIGS: Strategies – Shape Public Opinion

Going Public
 SIGS undertake expensive public relations
campaigns to bring an issue to the public.
 SIGS use advertising to promote their
image.
 SIGS may engage in highly visible protest
demonstrations.
– Business groups rarely use this tactic.
SIGS: Strategies
1.
Lobbying
1. Congress, presidency, courts (litigation) and
bureaucracy
2.
Contributing money to candidates
(electioneering)
1. PACs, and 527’s
3.
Shape public opinion – Going Public
WHAT MAKES A SIG
SUCCESSFUL?
What makes a SIG successful?

SIZE
– Size can be an important asset.
– NOT ALWAYS
What makes a SIG successful?

“pressure politics is
essentially the
politics of small
groups.”
–

E.E. Schattschneider
Pressure politics: political
action which relies heavily
on the use of mass media
and mass communications
to persuade politicians that
the public wants or demands
a particular action. Think
prohibition.
What makes a SIG successful?

Potential group: all the people that could
join.
 Actual group: people that actually join
 Collective Good: something all share, even
the potential members
Collective Good
What makes a SIG successful?

Free-rider Problem
– Why should a potential member
join a group, pay dues and do the
work if they can enjoy the collective good
without becoming an actual member?
What makes a SIG successful?

Olson’s laws of large groups
– “the larger the group, the further it will fall
short of providing an optimal amount of a
collective good.”
– The bigger the group, the larger the problem
– Smaller groups have an organizational
advantage over larger groups.
– Explains why smaller groups are often more
successful than larger groups.
What makes a SIG successful?

How can large
groups
overcome this
disadvantage?
– Offer selective
– benefits.
– Selective
benefits are only for actual members—those who
join the group.


AARP
Consumers Union
What makes a SIG successful?

Intensity
– Groups that have passionately committed
activists tend to be more successful than those
groups whose members are less intensely
involved.
– Because of their narrow focus, single-issue
groups are able to mobilize intensely committed
members.
What makes a SIG successful?

Financial Resources
– All SIGS need money to hire
lobbyists, support PACs, write
amicus curie briefs etc…
– Big money can compensate for
lack of size and intensity.
– Wealthier groups have more
money, but do not always get
what they want.
What makes a SIG successful?
1.
2.
3.
Size
Intensity
Financial Resources
INTEREST GROUP THEORY
Test Tip

Be sure that you can
compare and contrast
elite, pluralist and
hyperpluralist theories of
how the system works.
 All three theories attempt
to explain who has power
and influence in the U.S.
Interest Group Theory
Pluralist Theory
2. Elite Theory
3. Hyperpluralist Theory
1.
Interest Group Theory

Pluralist Theory
– Many SIGS compete for power.
– Public policy is the result of the negotiating,
compromising and bargaining among
competing groups
– Because of federalism and the three branches
there are many points of access and influence
and no one group can dominate.
– Groups lacking money can use their size and
intensity to achieve their goals.
Interest Group Theory

Elite Theory
– A small number of wealthy individuals,
powerful corporate interests and large financial
institutions dominate.
– PACs encourage a close connection between
money and politics.
– “Citizens with lower or moderate incomes
speak with a whisper that is lost on the ears of
inattentive government officials, while the
advantages roar with a clarity and consistency
that policymakers readily hear and routinely
follow.”
Interest Group Theory

Hyperpluralist theory
– Too many SIGS trying to influence policy.
– When political leaders try to appease competing
groups they often create policies that are
confusing and sometime contradictory.
– Example: tobacco
Iron Triangle
Subgovernments
Interest Group Liberalism
Term used by
political
scientists to
describe the
policy-making
relationship
between the
legislature, the
bureaucracy and
SIGS

An example of such an iron triangle would
be the American Association for Retired
People (AARP), the Senate Special
Committee on Aging, and the Social
Security Administration all working
together to set government policy on Social
Security.

Another example is Congress (House and
Senate Committees on Armed Services),
defense contractors, and the U.S.
Department of Defense forming the iron
triangle and working together to set defense
policy and budgets.

A final example is in agriculture.
Agribusinesses, like ADM, ethanol
producers and ConAgra are SIGS that seek
to benefit from agricultural policies such as
subsidies. The U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) services these
constituencies. Senators and representatives
wield enormous power, and are unlikely to
win elections in agriculture-driven regions
if they oppose these policies. This results in
certain agricultural products (like corn)
being subsidized by taxpayers.
Interest Group Theory

Pluralist Theory
 Elite Theory
 Hyperpluralist theory
– Issue networks, Subgovernments, Iron
triangles, Interest group liberalism
Regulation of SIGS

Lobbyists/SIGS must register
 Two-year cooling off period
 Limitations on gifts and contributions
 Disclosure of issues and bills
 Limits and disclosure on PACs
 Limits on independent expenditures
Regulation of SIGS: PACs and 527s

Lobbyists/SIGS must register
 Two-year cooling off period
 Limitations on gifts and contributions
 Disclosure of issues and bills
Understanding Interest
Groups

Interest Groups and Democracy
– James Madison’s solution to the problems posed by
interest groups was to create a wide-open system in
which groups compete.
– Pluralists believe that the public interest would prevail
from this competition.
– Elite theorists point to the proliferation of business
PACs as evidence of interest group corruption.
– Hyperpluralists maintain that group influence has led to
policy gridlock.
Understanding Interest
Groups

Interest Groups & the Scope of Government
– Interest groups seek to maintain policies and
programs that benefit them and…
…Interest groups continue to pressure
government to do more things, thus
…As the government does more, does this cause
the formation of more groups?
Summary

SIG theories:
– pluralism, elitism, and hyperpluralism
A number of factors influence a group’s
success.
 Interest groups affect policy process
through lobbying, electioneering, litigation,
and going public.
