Chapter 7 INTEREST GROUPS AND CORPORATIONS Pearson Education, Inc. © 2005

Pearson Education, Inc © 2005 The Energy Industry Pushes an Energy Bill  2000 election: The energy industry contributed $67 million to congressional candidates and political parties, 75% of that going to Republican.  2001: Vice President Richard Cheney secretly met with energy industry representatives.  The proposed energy bill gave massive tax breaks and subsidies to energy companies, and repealed an important energy consumer-protection law.

Pearson Education, Inc © 2005 The Energy Industry Pushes an Energy Bill  2002 election: The energy industry contributed $58 million, 73% of that going to Republicans.  The energy industry also launched a massive lobbying campaign to pressure members of Congress to support the bill.  Ultimately, however, the bill failed due to the massive cost of the program and Democratic opposition.

Pearson Education, Inc © 2005 Interest Groups in a Democratic Society  Roles of interest groups  Interest groups are private organizations that try to shape public policy.  Interest groups try to influence the behavior of political decision makers.  Also known as pressure groups or lobbies

Pearson Education, Inc © 2005 The Evils of Factions  The American public has traditionally viewed special- interest groups as narrowly self-interested.  James Madison warned of the dangers and divisiveness of factions (his term for interest groups) in The Federalist, No. 10.  The theme of the evils of factions has recurred throughout American history.

Pearson Education, Inc © 2005 Interest Group Democracy: The Pluralist Argument  Pluralist political scientists believe that interest groups are important instruments in a democracy, and serve the public interest.  Interest groups convey public desires to government officials better than do elections.  People are free to join or to organize groups that reflect their own interests.  Because power is dispersed in the American political system, there are many openings for diverse groups to have their interests heard.  Due to the ease of group formation and the accessibility of government, all legitimate interest groups can have their views heard.

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Interest Group Formation  Escalation in the number of interest groups  Interest groups formation tied to the existence of certain structural factors  When there are many interests  When the political culture supports the pursuit of private interests  Diversity of interests in the United States

Pearson Education, Inc © 2005 Rules of the political game in the United States encourage the formation of interest groups.  The First Amendment guarantees citizens basic rights that are essential to the ability of citizens to form organizations.  Government is organized in such a way that decision makers are relatively accessible to interest groups.  Because of federalism, checks and balances, and the separation of powers, there is no dominant center of decision making.

Pearson Education, Inc © 2005 Interest Group Formation and the Growth in Government  As government takes on more responsibilities, it has a greater impact on facets of economic, social, and personal life.  People, groups, and organizations are increasingly affected by the actions of government.  When new government agencies are established, new interest groups emerge.  Department of Homeland Security

Pearson Education, Inc © 2005 Disturbance Theory of Interest Group Formation  Groups tend to form only when people feel that their interests are being threatened.  E.g., the Christian Coalition was created when many evangelical Christians began to feel threatened by family breakdown, an increase in the number of abortions, and the sexual revolution, and the growing voices of gays and lesbians.

Pearson Education, Inc © 2005 Incentives  Some social scientists argue that even when people feel threatened, they will form groups only if doing so provides them with a selective, material benefit.  If someone can get the benefit without joining the group (known as a free-rider), then there may be no purpose in joining.  The free-rider problem tends to occur when a group is interested in some collective good that benefits everyone and not just members.  There has been a proliferation of public interest and ideological groups, which suggests purposes or incentives other than material and selective incentives. 

Pearson Education, Inc © 2005 What Interests Are Represented  Interest groups may be classified by the type of interest they represent.  Public interests are interests that are connected in one way or another to the general welfare of the community.  Private interests are associated with benefits for some fraction of the community.

Pearson Education, Inc © 2005 Private Interest Groups  Business  The Professions  Labor  Racial, Ethnic, and Gender Organizations

Pearson Education, Inc © 2005 Public Interest Groups  Are also known as citizens’ groups  Try to get government to do things that will benefit the general public rather than the direct material interests of their own members  Tend to be supported by people due to ideological concerns or belief in a cause, rather than material incentives  Have grown substantially in number and influence since the late 1960s

Pearson Education, Inc © 2005 What Interest Groups Do  Interest groups are composed of people with common goals or interests who try to convey the views of some sector of society and to influence government on their behalf.  There are two basic types of interest group activity: the inside game and the outside game.

Pearson Education, Inc © 2005 The Inside Game  The inside game involves direct contact of the interest group representative and government officials.  The politics of insiders, of the old-boy network, of one-on-one persuasion in which a skilled lobbyist tries to persuade a decision maker to accept the point of view of the interest group  Lobbying Congress  Lobbying the executive branch  Lobbying the courts

Pearson Education, Inc © 2005 The Outside Game  The outside game is an indirect form of influence that involves interest group efforts to mobilize public opinion, voters, and important contributors.  Evidence of increased importance compared to “inside” lobbying (though inside lobbying still tends to be more directly effective)  Mobilizing membership  Organizing the district  Shaping public opinion  Involvement in campaigns and elections

Pearson Education, Inc © 2005 Possible Flaws in the Pluralist Heaven  Representational inequalities  Resource inequalities  political action committees (PACs)  soft money  independent expenditures  Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (2002)  stipulations: limits on soft money contributions  consequences: enhanced role of PACs, “527’s”  public interest group use of “bundling”

Pearson Education, Inc © 2005 Possible Flaws in the Pluralist Heaven  Access inequality  Subgovernments  Capture  Interest group liberalism  Iron triangles  Issue networks

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The Special Place of Business Corporations  Scholars have found that corporations dominate other interest groups in the policy process.  number of interest organizations  number of lobbyists  level of resources  shaping public perceptions  traditionally held in high regard, and viewed as linked to healthy economy  mobility  Nonetheless, corporate power waxes and wanes within its overall privileged position.  corporations are most powerful in good economic times, and when they build alliances among themselves

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Curing the Mischief of Factions  Disclosure  Federal Regulation of Lobbying Act (1946)  Lobby Disclosure Act (1995)  Regulation  Ethics in Government Act (1978)  Control  McCain-Feingold bill (2002)

Pearson Education, Inc © 2005 Interest Groups, Corporations, and Democracy  Many worry that these reforms do not get to the heart of the problem.  Some political scientists have suggested that we focus our efforts on strengthening institutions of majoritarian democracy such as political parties, the presidency, and Congress.  Efforts to reform the interest group system may be frustrated by the inescapable fact that highly unequal resources eventually will find their way into our political life.