Chapter 7
Interest Groups
and Political
Parties
What is an Interest Group?
• an organized group of individuals
• who share common goals or objectives
• who attempt to influence policymakers in all three branches of
government, and at all levels
•When a person contacts a representative about a proposed change in
the law, that person is Lobbying, or attempting to influence, the
government
What is a political party?
• a group of activists who organize to win elections, to operate the
government and to determine public policy
• Differences: Interest Groups sharpen the issues
Political Parties blur the issues
Types of Interest Groups
• Economic Interest Groups – groups formed to promote economic
interests (These are among the major interest groups)
•Business Interest Groups – business and trade organizations that
attempt to influence government policy to their benefit
•Agricultural Interest Groups- advocate for farm interests
• they enjoy disproportionate influence
•Labor Interest Groups – groups that represent the working class
interests
•Public Employee Interest Groups – interest groups that represent
employees of governments, including the American Federation of
State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and teachers
•Public-sector unions are the fastest growing labor organizations
•Interest Groups of Professionals – interest groups that advocate
for professional associations, like the American Bar Association
and the American Medical Association
Types of Interest Groups (cont.)
• Environmental Interests – groups that advocate for pro-environmental
policies, including the Sierra Club, the National Audubon Society and
the Nature Conservancy
• Public Interest Groups – groups that advocate the interests of the
collective, overall community
•It is hard to define because there are so many publics
•Common Cause – largest, to reorder national priorities toward
“the public”
•Special, or Single-Issue Interest Groups – narrowly focused interest
groups
•Examples include abortion interest groups and groups that advocate
for individuals who share a racial, ethnic or age association
•AARP – The strongest lobbying group in the United States
•Foreign Govts. and private foreign interests have lobbyists (EU)
Interest Group Strategies
They try to cultivate long-term relationships with legislators and
government officials.
• Direct Techniques
•Lobbying – meeting officials and attempting to convince of your
position on an issue; Lobbying also entails
•testifying before congressional committees
•testifying before executive rulemaking agencies
•assisting in the drafting of legislation
•entertaining legislators
•providing information to legislators
•assisting in nominating individuals o government posts
•Ratings – scoring legislators based on their votes in congress, then
making interested constituents aware of those scores
• Campaign Assistance – providing workers for political campaigns
• Political Action Committees –a committee that raises money and
gives donation on behalf of organizations to political candidates or
political parties.
Indirect Techniques
• Generating Public Pressure – trying to influence the government by
using public opinion on an issue. The use of polling data
• Using Constituents as Lobbyists
•shotgun approach means having large numbers of constituents act
in concert by writing, emailing, phoning or sending postcards to a
legislator
•rifle approach involves having an influential constituent contact a
legislator on a particular issue
• Building Alliances – forming alliances with other diverse groups who
share a policy goal
Attempts at Regulating Lobbyists
Lobbyist: Any person or organization that received money to be used
principally to influence legislation before Congress (1946)
• Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946
•provided for public disclosure (“register”)
•failed because it did not have an enforcement mechanism
• United States v. Harriss (1954) confirmed the constitutionality of the
Legislative Reorganization Act: “Influencing federal legislation
directly”
• Some regulations on lobbying that passed in 1995-96 included:
•defining “lobbyist” as anyone who spends 20 percent of his/her time
lobbying members of congress, congressional staffs, or executive
branch officials
•requiring lobbyists to register with the Secretary of the House or
clerk of the Senate
•requiring semiannual reports on the nature of lobbying activities
Functions of Political Parties in the United States
A group that seeks to win elections, operate the government, and
determine public policy
Factions are subgroups within parties that try to obtain certain benefits
for themselves
Parties are permanent, factions are not. Parties do the following…
• Recruiting candidates for public office
• Organizing and running elections
•Voter registration drives, work at polls, campaign workers
• Presenting alternative policies to the electorate
• Accepting responsibility for operating the government
• Acting as the organized opposition to the party in power
•The “out” party is supposed to articulate its own policies and oppose
the winning party when appropriate
•The party functions are usually carried out by a small “cadre” of
party activists which is different from Europe’s mass-membership
party organizations
Why Do We Have a Two-Party System?
It’s been around since the early 1800s…
• historical foundations of the system
•class politics
•sectional politics: East/West then North/South then Northeast/South
and West then National Politics
•But, there has always been some form of class politics
• self-perpetuation of parties
•Political socialization
• commonality of views among Americans
•Shared beliefs, values and principles of our governmental system
• the winner-take all electoral (plurality) system
•This makes it tough for minor parties
• state and federal laws favoring the two party system
•Major parties need fewer signatures to place candidates on ballots
•Not eligible for federal matching funds for elections, debates
Minor or Third Parties in the United States
• most successful minor parties have been splinter parties, parties that
broke from a major party
•Examples on Page 175
•Bull Moose Progressives of 1912 (from the Republicans)
•the American Independent Party of 1968 (from the Democrats)
• often, minor parties’ platforms are adopted by major parties
•sometimes minor party candidates can have an impact on the
outcome of an election
Hot Links to Selected Internet Resources:
• http://www.wadsworth.com/cgiwadsworth/course_products_wp.pl?fid=M2&discipline_number=20&
product_isbn_issn=0534592651
• http://www.wadsworth.com/politicalscience
• http://www.ipl.org/ref/AON
• http://www.democrats.org/index.html
• http://www.rnc.org