INTEREST GROUPS
Chapter 11a
O’Connor and Sabato
American Government:
Continuity and Change
INTEREST GROUPS
In this chapter we will cover…
• What Are Interest Groups?
• The Roots and Development of American
Interest Groups
• What Do Interest Groups Do?
• What Makes an Interest Group
Successful?
What Are Interest Groups?
• Interest Group (special interests) is an
organization of people with similar
policy goals that tries to influence the
political process to try to achieve those
goals.
• Interest groups try to influence every
branch and every level of government.
The Roots and Development
of American Interest Groups
• Interest groups have been part of the American
political landscape since the country’s founding.
• James Madison in Federalist #10 argued for a
proliferation of groups so that no one group
could get hegemony over the other groups.
• The open nature of the American government
invites organized political participation.
The Roots and Development of
American Interest Groups
• National Groups Emerge (1830-80)
• Progressive Era (1890-1920)
– Organized Labor – the American Federation of Labor (AFL)
(1886)
– Business and Trade Associations – The National Association
of Manufacturers (NAM) (1895)
• The Rise of the Interest Group State (1960s and 1970s)
– Religious and Ideological Groups
– Business Groups, Trade and Professional Associations
– Organized Labor
What Do Interest Groups Do?
• The most common and effective interest
group technique is lobbying or seeking to
influence and persuade others to support
your group's position.
• Lobbyists are hired by your college or
university, businesses, foreign countries,
trade associations, and anyone else wanting
their voice heard on policy matters.
• A Lobbyists is someone whose task it is to
influence legislation or policymaking.
Interest Groups Techniques
Direct Techniques:
• Lobbying
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Private meetings
Testifying
Drafting Legislation
Social Occasions
Providing Political Info
Supplying Nomination
suggestions
Indirect Techniques:
• Generating Public
Pressure
– Groundswell of
public pressure
– Use Constituents as
Lobbyists
– Building Alliances
with other groups
Honest Lobbyists
• A lobbyist must be honest and truthful if he or
she wants to remain effective.
• Access to lawmakers is critical and if a lobbyist
gets a reputation of being untruthful or
disingenuous legislators doors will close.
• Of course, lobbyists put their group's position in
a favorable light but good lobbyists will also
make lawmakers aware of the downsides of a
bill and the arguments on the other side as well.
What Makes an Interest
Group Successful?
In general three factors tend to lead to interest
group success:
1. Leaders – having a prominent leader aids in the
reputation of the group and enhances a group's
ability to attain its goals.
2. Patrons and Funding – funding is critical.
Without money, it is hard to get your message out.
3. Members – a group must have members to be
successful. Organizing members allows for
strength in numbers and pooling of financial
support.
Pluralism and its Critics
•
• Pluralist theory
argues that interest
group activity brings
representation to all.
• Interest groups
compete and
counterbalance one
another.
Three criticism of
pluralism are
1. It gives short shrift to
those who are not
organized.
2. It fails to deal with the
fact that some interests
have more power than
others.
3. It seems to leave no room
for consideration of
transcendent national
interests.
Hyperpluralist Theory
Hyperpluralist argue that when
interest groups become so powerful
that they dominate the political
decision-making structures they
render any consideration of the
greater public interest impossible.
Criticism Interest Groups
Interest Groups have been criticized for
– Ignoring the wider interest of society
– Producing confusion and deadlock in
Congress
– Generating so much emotion that they
make reasoned discussion difficult
– Having too much influence
Important Points to Think About
Interest Groups
• Promote interest in public affairs
• Provide useful information
• Serve as watchdogs
• Represent the interest of Citizens