Transcript Chapter 9
CHAPTER 9
Interest Groups: Organizing for Influence
Presentation by Eric Miller, Blinn College, Bryan, Texas.
E. E. Schattschneider
The flaw in the pluralist
heaven is that the heavenly
chorus sings with a strong
upper-class bias.
The Interest Group System
The interest-group system includes all interests that
are organized and seek political goals
Interest group = a faction
Typical Interest group functions
Supporting
candidates for public office
Working to influence legislators and policymakers
Promoting public policies
The difference between political parties and the
typical interest group the
party addresses a broad range of issues
The Interest Group System
James Madison the
source of most interest groups or
factions is the unequal distribution of
property
Worried that gov. would be dominated
by groups but recognized that a free
society must allow the advocacy of selfinterest- Federalist no. 10
The Interest Group System
Reasons for so many groups:
American
tradition of free association
the wide diversity of interests that exist in America
America’s federal system- multiple gov. entities
The Interest Group System
Alexis de Tocqueville describes America as “a nation of
joiners”
Citizens of the U.S. are more actively involved in
interest groups and community causes than other nations
Interest group activity is basic to democracy because it
promotes the concern of various interests in society
The Interest Group System
Economic Groups
The organizational edge: economic groups versus citizens’ groups
Private (Individual) goods vs. collective (public) goods
Private- Material Incentive i.e. higher wages, lower taxes, subsidies
Public- clean air & water, protection of individual rights
The free rider problem- non-members get these benefits for free
The size factor: business groups smaller and more efficient
The Interest Group System
Economic Groups
Types
of Economic Groups
Business
Groups
the most fully organized
Labor
Groups
Agricultural Groups
Professional Groups
Percentage Union Members,
by Sector and Industry
10
The Interest Group System
Citizens’ Groups
Purposive Incentives
The satisfaction of contributing to a worthy goal or purpose
Collective (Public) Goods
cannot be selectively denied to individuals
The air we breathe = collective good
The Free-Rider Problem
individuals get the benefit without belonging to the group
to overcome this groups have created benefits for members
The Interest Group System
Citizens’ Groups
Types
of Citizens’ Groups
Public-Interest
Groups- NAACP
Single-Issue Groups- NRA
Ideological Groups- MoveOn
concerned with a wide number of issues
13
The Interest Group System
A Special Category of Interest Group: Governments
States,
cities, and other governmental units in the U.S.
lobby heavily
Foreign governments are prohibited from certain
lobbying activities
Pressure
through their embassies with paid lobbyists in
Washington
Inside Lobbying: Seeking Influence Through
Official Contacts
Acquiring Access to Officials
Policy support- Based on providing useful and persuasive
information to key officials
Campaign Contributions- Money is key element—amount
contributed is staggering
K Street- 20,000+ lobbyists in DC
Regulated by:
Lobbying Disclosure Act-1995 &Honest Leadership & Open
Government Act-2007
Requires lobbyists to register and file detailed reports of
activities
“Revolving door” – Capitol Hill to K Street
Some top officials are former lobbyists
Total Spending on Lobbying of Federal Government
17
Inside Lobbying: Seeking Influence Through
Official Contacts
Lobbying Congress
Most significant resource that groups offer candidates = $$$
Lobbying Executive Agencies
Targets include
POTUS & presidential staff
Top officials in executive agencies
“Agency capture”- over time the agencies tend to favor the industries
they are supposed to regulate-
Lobbying the Courts
Initiating lawsuits- i.e. ACLU
Lobbying for certain judges to be appointed to the bench
Inside Lobbying: Seeking Influence Through
Official Contacts
Webs of Influence: Groups in the Policy Process
Iron
Triangles
Small
and informal but stable set of bureaucrats, legislators, and
lobbyists who are concerned with promoting a particular interest
Inside Lobbying: Seeking Influence Through
Official Contacts
Webs of Influence: Groups in the Policy Process
Issue
Networks
Informal
grouping of officials, lobbyists, and policy specialists
who are brought together temporarily by their shared interest in
a particular policy problem
Generally more frequent but less stable than iron triangles
Members of an issue network may change as the issue develops
Once the issue is settled, the network disolves
Outside Lobbying: Seeking Influence
Through Public Pressure
Constituency Advocacy: Grassroots Lobbying
Grass-roots
Members
lobbying = pressure from constituents
of the public try to get lawmakers’ attention
AARP
largest
Difficult
citizen group- over 30 million
to assess influence
Outside Lobbying: Seeking Influence
Through Public Pressure
Electoral Action: Votes and PAC
Money
PACs
Tend to contribute money to
incumbents
4000+ PACs
funneling a group’s election
contributions
contributions limited to $10,000
per candidate for each election
Most PACs associated with
business
8x as much to incumbents
Amount of influence?
Too much? vs. right to be heard
Citizens United v. FEC (2010)
1st Amendment issue
Percentage of PACS by Category
The Group System: Indispensable but Biased
The Contribution of Groups to Self-Government: Pluralism
Serving the “public interest”?
Flaws in Pluralism: Interest-Group Liberalism and Economic
Bias
The tendency of officials to support demands of the interest
groups
Liberal- the habit of using government to promote group interests
Neither party is “conservative” in the sense of being reluctant to use
gov. power to promote groups
Not equally representative
Organization is an unequally distributed resource
Economic groups are the most highly organized
Nearly 2/3 of all lobbying groups are business related
The Group System: Indispensable but Biased
A Madisonian Dilemma
Madison’s
solution to the problem of factions actually
contributes to the problem by the fragmentation of
authority among policymakers thereby providing more
groups more opportunities to get their way
Federalist
#10- A free society must allow pursuit of self-
interest
Checks and balances work to protect rights, but also
exaggerate influence of minorities
Groups can wield too much influence over individual policies
or agencies
States in the Nation