Interest groups and policymaking
Final exam:
Saturday, December 8th
9:00-11:00
AA1043
Papers
Due Friday, Nov. 30th
no later than 5:00 p.m.
An initial view
• Interest groups, along with parties, interpose
themselves between the state and civil society
• Interest (or pressure groups) are groups which
seek to influence, rather than control, government
policy
• Sometimes referred to as organized interests
• Far more numerous than political parties in liberal
democracies
Varieties
Interests may be articulated by
• Ethnic, linguistic or religious groups
• Associations formed to represent or provide
services to their members:
– Trade Unions, Professional Associations
– Producer groups, e.g. diary farmers, steel manufacturers
• Parts of larger organizations:
– government agencies & departments
– academic units (Political Science Department, Faculty of Arts)
Advocacy groups
Associations advancing a cause:
• Greenpeace
• Sierra Club
• Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD)
• Heart and Lung Association
• National Citizens Coalition
• Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Water Trough
Association (London, 19th c)
Thinking about interest groups
Negative views:
• Interest groups are a blot on society
• Special interests pursue private interests &
never the public interest
Alternate view:
• Interest groups are a necessary feature of
liberal democracies
• Government need them to understand what
different parts of society are thinking them
• Individuals and groups need interest groups
in order to have their concerns heard
• Pluralist view: the public interest emerges
from the pursuit of private interests
Explaining interest groups:
Society-centred v.state centred
explanations…
Society-centred explanations:
Interest groups are regarded as normal inliberal
democracies:
• James Madison in The Federalist Papers (1787):
Interests (and interest groups) thrive wherever there is
liberty
• An expression of civil society: citizens choose to
associate when
– they want something from government
– something is bothering them
State-centred explanations:
• Policies generate interests:
• The more the state regulates, the more that
interests will organize in order to shape the
way in which they are regulated:
– The case of the British Medical Association
(BMA) before and after the establishment of
the National Health Service (NHS) in 1948
– Newfoundland Medical Association
Collective Action Problems
The theory of collective action (from Mancur
Olson, The Logic of Collective Action, 1968):
• Self-interested individuals will be unwilling
join associations if they can free ride &
receive benefits (collective goods) anyway
Predictions
The theory of collective action:
• Predicts membership only in groups which
provide specific benefits
• and not in groups which pursue the public
interest
Problem:
• People do join advocacy promotional
groups with little obvious or direct benefit
• But, this varies from person to person and
from society to society:
– Not everyone is a joiner
– And in some societies, people are more likely
to associate than in others
Sectoral vs. peak associations
• Sectoral groups: active in only one sector of the
economy – e.g
–
–
–
–
Dairy farmers
Fisheries Union,
Association of Seafood Producers (NL)
Steel Workers
• Peak Association - a federation or confederation of
sectoral associations
– Conference Board of Canada
– Canadian Labour Congress
– Trade Union Congress (UK)
Protective vs. Promotional Groups
• Protective groups represent sectors of the
economy:
–
–
–
–
National Farmers Union (UK)
Board of Trade, Chamber of Commerce
CUPE, NAPE, MUNFA, CAUT, AUCC
Canadian Medical Association
Promotional Groups: promoting a
cause
•
•
•
•
National Rifle Association
Canadian Civil Liberties Association
CARAL, Right to Life
NIMBY groups
Advocacy think-tanks
Institutes which pursue causes, seek to
advocate a position or set of positions:
• Fraser Institute
• Atlantic Institute of Marketing Studies
• Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
• Project for the New American Century
• Cato Institute
Access and activities:
Protective groups:
• For many, principal function is to provide services
to their members
• However, also represent members’ interests to
government via
–
–
–
–
Informal contacts with elected officials and bureaucrats
Serving on advisory councils or boards
Lobbying
Organizing promotional campaigns
Channels of access
• Vary from country to country and among interest
groups
• Interest groups try to go where the power is – if
they can gain access
– In the United States, to the Congress
– In other liberal democracies, to government
departments
• where policies are formulated and
• where regulations drafted once a policy is put in place
Protective vs. promotional groups
• Protective groups often work quietly, most
frequently through contacts with
government bureaucracy
– Often have greater influence on details of
legislation and regulations implementing them
than on the broader lines of government policy
• Promotional groups rely more on the
media, mass campaigns because they lack
access to bureaucrats and policy-makers
Why do government officials
consult with interest groups?
• Consultation sometimes required -- via
advisory or consultative boards
• Groups often provide valuable information
and expertise
• Groups can be used to explain government
policy to their members
Policy communities and issue
networks:
• Policy community:
– A close-knit community of those most closely involved
-- snug and cozy
– Government officials
– Key interest groups, including firms, interest groups,
and employee or professional associations
• e.g. organization of health or social welfare sectors in Germany
• Issue network: a looser and more open network
of those involved or interested
Problem:
• How much consultation with interest groups is
desirable?
• Are interest groups a blight or a necessary feature
of an open polity?
• Can a society privilege certain groups but not
others? For example:
– Trade union federations & employers associations?
– Non-governmental organizations (NGOs)?
– New Social Movements?