Transcript Section 1: The Nature of Interest Groups

Chapter 9
Interest Groups
Emma Cheplak
Karissa Gensler
Tyler Burkart
Section 1: The Nature of
Interest Groups
The Role of Interest Groups
•Interest groups are sometimes called “pressure
groups” and often “special interests” or “organized
interests.
•They give themselves a variety of labels: leagues,
clubs, federations, unions, committees, associations,
etc. .
•Every interest group seeks to influence the making and
content of public policy.
•Because interest groups exist to shape public policy,
they operate wherever those policies are made or can
be influence and also function at every level of
government.
•Public policy includes all of the goals that a government
pursues in the many areas of human affairs in which it
is involved-everything from seat belts, speed limits, and
zoning to flood control, old-age pensions, and the use of
military force in international affairs.
Political Parties and Interest Groups

The two types of political organizations necessarily
overlap in a number of ways. However, they differ
from one another in three striking respects:
1. In the making of nominations
2. In their primary focus
3. In the scope of their interests
•Parties nominate candidates for public office, interest
groups do not. If an interest group were to nominate
candidates, it would, in effect, become a political party.
•Interest group do try to affect the outcomes of
primaries and other nominating contests. However,
interest group do not themselves pick candidates who
then run under their labels.
•It is widely known that a particular interest group
supports a candidate, but that candidate seeks votes as a
Republican or a Democrat.
•Political parties are chiefly interested in winning
elections and controlling government while interest
group are concerned with controlling or influencing the
policies of government.
•Unlike parties, interest groups do not face the
problems involved in trying to appeal to the largest
possible number of people.
•Political parties are mostly interested in the who, and
interest groups are mostly concerned with the what, of
government.
•Political parties focus mostly on the candidate
•Interest groups focus mostly on an issue
•Political parties are necessarily concerned with the whole
range of public affairs, with everything of concern to
voters.
•Interest groups almost always concentrate only on those
issues that most directly affect the interests of their
members
•Interest group are private organizations
•Political parties are not accountable to the public
•Their members, not the voters, pass judgment on their
performance
Interest Groups: Good or
Bad?
Two Early Views
•In 1787, James Madison warned the new nation against
the dancers of what he called “factions.”
“a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority
or minority of the whole, are united and actuated by
some common impulse of passion, or of interest,
adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the
permanent and aggregate interests of the community.”
-The Federalist
•Madison thought the factions were inevitable in human
society, and he was opposed to any attempt to abolish them.
“A society can only eliminate factions by eliminating freedom.”
•Madison states that it is necessary to moderate the potential
extremism of factions with a balance of powers
•The separations of power in that system would mean that
factions would tend to counteract and balance each others’
power.
•50 years later, Alexis de Tocqueville was impressed by the
vast number of organizations he found in the U.S.
•In Democracy in America he wrote that:
“In no country in the world has the principle of
association been more successfully used, or more
unsparingly applied to a multitude of different
objects, than in America.”
Valuable Functions of Interest
Groups
 Interest groups help to stimulate interest in public
affairs. They raise awareness of public affairs
mostly by developing and promoting those policies
they favor and by opposing those policies they see as
threats to their interest.
•Interest groups also represent their members on the basis of
shared attitudes rather than on the basis of geography-by
what their members think as opposed to where they happen to
live. Public officials are elected from districts drawn on maps.
Many of the issues that concern and unite people today have
less to do with where they live than with how they make a
living.
•Organized interests often provide useful, specialized, and
detailed information to government. This data is important to
the making of public policy, and government officials cannot
obtain them from any other source. Interest groups also
frequently get information from public agencies and pass it
along to their members.
•Interest groups are vehicles for political participation. They
are a means through which like-minded citizens can pool their
resources and channel their energies into collective political
action.
•Interest groups add another element to the checks-andbalances feature of the political process. Many keep close
tabs on the work of various public agencies/officials which
help to make sure that they perform their tasks in
responsible and effective ways.
•Interest groups regularly compete with one another in the
public arena. That competition places a very real limit on the
lengths to which some groups might otherwise go as they seek
to advance their own interests.
Criticisms
 Some interest groups have an influence far out of
proportion to their size, or, for that matter, to their
importance or contribution to the public good. Thus,
the contest over “who gets what, when, and how” is
not always a fair fight. The more highly organized
and better financed groups often have a decided
advantage in that struggle.
•It is sometimes hard to tell just who or how many people a
group really represents. Many groups have titles that
suggest that they have thousands-even millions-of dedicated
members. Some organizations that call themselves such
things as “The American Citizens Committee for…” or “people
Against…” are in fact only “fronts” for a very few people with
very few interests.
•Many groups do not in fact represent the views of all of the
people for whom they claim to speak. An organization is
dominated by an active minority who conduct the group’s
affairs and make its policy decisions quite often.
•Some groups use tactics that, if they were to become
widespread, would undermine the whole political system.
These practices include bribery and other heavy-handed uses
of money, overt threats of revenge, etc. . They are not
altogether common, but the danger is always there.
Groups Based on Economic Interests
 Most interest groups are based on the manner in
which people make their living (economic interests).
 The most active and most effective groups are those
representing business, labor, agriculture, and certain
professions.
Business Groups
 Merchants, creditors, and property owners were the
people most responsible for calling the Constitutional
Convention in 1787.
 The U.S. Brewers’ Association (oldest organized
interest group at work today), was born in 1862 when
Congress first levied a tax on beer. Their purpose
was to assure the brewing trade that its interests
would be “vigorously prosecuted before the legislative
and executive departments.”
•Two best known business organizations are the National
Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and the Chamber of
Commerce of the U.S.
•NAM now represents some 14,000 firms. It generally speaks
for “big business” in public affairs
•Chamber of Commerce has some 3,000 local chambers and
now counts more than 200,000 business and professional firms
•The Business Roundtable has taken a large role in promoting
and defending in the business community. Composed of the
chief executive officers of 150 of the nation’s largest, most
prestigious and most influential corporations.
Labor Groups
 A labor union is an organization of workers who share
the same type of job or who work in the same
industry. Labor unions press for government policies
that will benefit their members.
 Some 16 million Americans, less than 13. 5 percent of
the nation’s labor forces belong to labor unions today
 As recently as 1975, union membership accounted for
fully a fourth of the labor force.
•The largest organized labor, in both size and political power,
is the AFL-CIO (the American Federation of Labor-Congress
of Industrial Organizations).
•AFL-CIO has about 13 million members and is organized on a
national, State, and local basis.
•The largest and most powerful independent union include
groups such as the Fraternal Order of Police, the National
Treasury Employees Union, and the International Longshore
and Warehouse Union.
Other Interest Groups
 Most interest groups are based on economic
concern. Some promote causes and others are
devoted to opposing causes.
 Examples of groups who promote: American Civil
Liberties Union fights to protect civil and political
rights. The Friends of the Earth are pledged to
conserve our earth and environment.
 Examples of groups who oppose causes: The
National Right-to-Life committee opposes abortion.
Where Planned Parenthood is opposed to the
messages of Right-to-Life.
Some interest groups promote welfare of
certain segments of the population.
Examples
 VFW and the American Legion promote our
country’s veterans.
 AARP represents our nations senior citizens.
 NAACP an the National Urban League are concerned
with public policies effecting African Americans
Religious Organizations often influence public
policy also
Examples
 National Council of Churches, Christian Voice,
National Catholic Welfare council, and The American
Jewish Congress.
Public-Interest Groups
 Interest groups seek public policies of special benefit
to their members.
 They work against policies that threaten their
members interests.
 Public Interest Groups- seek to institute certain
public policies of benefit to all or most people in this
country, whether or not they belong to or support the
organization
Examples: Common Cause, and League of Women Voters
Section 2 : Types of Interest
Groups
An American Tradition
 Nobody knows how many interest groups exist in
the United States.
 They come in all shapes and sizes. They may have
millions of members or simply a handful.
 The largest number of interest groups have been
founded on the basis of economic interest.
Section 3: Interest Groups at Work
Influencing Public Opinion
Public opinion is the most significant long-term
force in American politics.
 Interest groups reach out to the public to
accomplish one or all of three major goals
1. To supply the public with information an
organization thinks the people should have.
2. To build a positive image for a group.
3. To promote a particular public policy.

Propaganda
 Propaganda: technique of persuasion aimed at
influencing individual or group behaviors.
 Used by interest groups to create the public
attitudes they desire
 Some view it as a form of lying
 To be successful it needs to be presented in simple,
interesting, and credible terms.
Influencing Parties and Elections

1.
2.
3.
Interest groups try to influence political parties in
many ways.
Some groups keep close tie with one of the major
parties.
Most want support of both parties.
Many groups urge members to become active in
party affairs and try to win posts in party
organizations.
 Campaigns cost a lot of money and turn to interest groups
for financial support.
 Much of their financial help goes through political action
committees (PACs).
 PACs raise and distribute money to candidates who will
further their goals.
 Single Interest Groups: PACs that concentrate their
efforts on one issue
Ex. Abortion, gun control, health care, etc.
Lobbying
 Lobbying: activities by which group pressures are
brought to bear on legislator and the legislative
process.
 some like to be called “legislative counsel” or “public
“representative”.
 Lobbyists know how to bring grass roots to bear.
 Grass Roots: of or from the people, average voters
 Lobbyists make campaign contributions, provide
information, write speeches and draft legislation.
 Each state has it’s own laws regulating lobbying
activities.
 The lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 eliminates the
“principal purpose” standard. It requires all
individual lobbyist to register.
 They provide basic information such as name,
address, and principal place of business.