Chapter 6 Interest Groups
7-1
Percentage
of Americans Belonging to Various Groups
Why Organize?
• Increase the chance that their views will be
heard and they will be able to influence who
is in office and policy decisions.
• Interest groups enhance political
participation.
• Policy versus personnel influence.
• Primary tactics: education, mobilization,
lobbying, and monitoring government
actions.
Organizational Components
• Leadership
— Most groups are dominated by a strong
leadership.
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Money
Agency staff to carry out tasks
Passive members
Accordingly, groups are considered
oligarchic rather than democratic.
Why Join?
• Informational benefits - data sharing
and training
• Material benefits - monetary (pay and
perks)
• Solidary benefits - social, network
connections
• Purposive benefits - non materialistic
but issue specific
• Ideological - supporting liberal or
conservative agendas
The Free Rider
• Group benefits may be available to the
public (a collective benefit).
• No reason to join the group if you are
already receiving benefits
• Creates a “free rider” problem
SIGs and Democracy
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Line of communication
Increases public awareness and action
Great source of research and information
Public watch dog
Access to government officials
Reinforces pluralistic aspect of
democracy.
SIGs and Parties
• SIGs
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Influence
Specialists
Centralized
Tightly Organized
• Political Parties
– Populate government
– Control policy
– Generalists
– Decentralized
Types of SIGs
• Business and Agricultural (IBM, Farm
Bureau Federation)
• Labor (AFL-CIO, Teamsters)
• Professional (ABA, AMA)
• Consumer Groups (Consumer Union)
• Public Interest (ACLU, Sierra Club,
Common Cause)
• Ideological (People for the American
Way, Christian Coalition)
• Trade (Industry specific - oil, telecomm,
railroads)
• Seniors (Gray Panthers, AARP)
AARP
• Originally single issue group with
selective benefits
• 33 million members
• $500 million income each year
• More circulation of magazine than
Time, Newsweek, and US News & World
Report combined
• Extremely powerful grassroots
capabilities
The Characteristics of
Members
• Higher incomes
• Higher levels of education
• Work in management or professional
positions.
• Group membership has a very
pronounced upper-class bias.
The New Politics Movement
• The New Politics movement began in the
1960s in response to concerns over civil
rights, the environment, war, women’s
issues, and the nuclear weapons buildup.
• Individuals were mobilized to action
through the creation of public interest
groups.
• Green Peace, Sierra Club, NOW
• Groups hide real purpose behind public
interest labels.
Conservative Interest Groups
• There has been an explosion of grassroots
conservative activity over the last twenty
years.
• The Moral Majority and Christian
Coalition have attempted to set a moral
agenda.
Decline in Union Membership, 1948 to Present
7-4
Strategies: How to Shape Policy
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Lobbying
Electoral Politics
Going Public
Grassroots Mobilization
Litigation
Lobbying
• Lobbying is a strategy by which
organized interest groups seek to
influence the passage of legislation by
exerting pressure on members of the
legislature.
• Full time career
• Washington, D.C. - epicenter
• Revolving door between lobbyists
and government
• Money and bad press for “gifts”
Lobbying
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Personal contacts
Research and specialized information
Congressional testimony
Legal assistance - write legislative
proposals
• Follow up on execution
Using Electoral Politics versus
Direct Lobbying
• Many groups engage in electoral politics
to ensure the election of politicians
sympathetic to the groups interests.
— Campaign contributions through political
action committees
— Campaign activism
• “Issue advocacy” media uses to change
public opinion and influence elections.
Political Action Committees
PACs
• PACs - interest groups work in the
electoral arena.
• Watergate Scandal 1972
• PACs regulated by the Federal
Election Commission.
• Contributions are limited to $5,000 per
election.
• Attempts to reform have failed
– Opposed by business and labor
– Importance of soft money.
• DNC and foreign contributions for
influence.
PAC Campaign Activism
• Other than fund raising.
• Can be temporary.
• Republican efforts to increase voter
turnout very successful in 1994.
– NRA
– Christian coalition
• Not much support continued into 1996
for Bob Dole.
• Labor groups increasing efforts in
support of Democrats.
Gaining Access
• Groups must maintain access to the decision
making process through relationships with
Congress and agencies.
— Iron triangle (Interest groups, legislature,
executive agencies)
— Issue network (Add consultants, officials,
activists, academics)
— Corridoring (Gaining influence within an
executive agency)
— Capture (Control of an agency)
Defense Oriented Iron Triangle
Going Public
• Going public is a strategy that attempts to
mobilize the public to support the groups
objective.
— Institutional advertising ( Creating a
positive group image)
— Social movements (Boycotts,
demonstrations, marches)
— Grassroots mobilization (Encouraging
members to contact legislators)
Using the Courts
• Groups sometimes turn to litigation when
they lack access or when they are
dissatisfied with governmental decisions.
• They finance individual litigation, provide
attorneys, or file amicus curiae briefs in
support of a particular position.
• Most expensive tactic.
• Used as a last resort at times to slow down
policy process.
Regulatory Efforts
• Federal Lobbying Act of 1946
– Only applies to Congress
– Registration and employer identification
– Only applies to those declaring their
principal purpose is to try to directly
influence legislation
– No agency to oversee
Groups and Interests:
The Dilemma
• Attempts to limit - First Amendment
freedom of speech and right to petition
the government.
• Groups provide access to public officials.
• Business groups are most powerful
• Balance is inconsistent with democratic
ideals.
• Groups have more impact than voters.
• Regulating groups limits freedom.
• Not really regulating groups limits
equality.
Protest and Demonstration