1. Chapter 11
Interest Groups

2. Interest Group
an organization of people with shared policy goals entering the policy process at several points to try to achieve those goals

3. Types of Interest Groups
Economic Interests
Labor
Agriculture
Business
Environmental Interests
Equality Interests
Consumer and Public Interest Lobbies

4. Table 11.1 Perceptions of the Dominance of Big Interests

5. Most Powerful Interest Groups
Table 11.1 The Power 25

6. What Makes an Interest Group Successful?
Intensity
Single-Issue groups: groups that focus on a narrow interest, dislike compromise, and often draw membership from people new to politics
Groups may focus on an emotional issue, providing them with a psychological advantage.
Intensity encourages non-conventional means of participation. I.e.- protests

7. What Makes an Interest Group Successful?
Financial Resources
Not all groups have equal amounts of money.
Monetary donations usually translate into access to the politicians, such as a phone call, meeting, or support for policy.
Wealthier groups have more resources—and presumably more access—but they do not always win on policy.

8. Small potential groups like businesses have an easier time organizing themselves for political action than large potential groups, such as consumers.
The primary way for large potential groups to overcome Olson’s law is to provide selective benefits.
These are goods that a group can restrict to those who pay their yearly dues, such as information publications, travel discounts, and group insurance rates.
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Table 11.2 The Benefits of AARP Membership

9. Business groups have supported right-to-work laws, which outlaw union membership as a condition of employment.
In 1947, Congress passed the Taft-Hartley Act, permitting states to adopt right-to-work laws.
The American labor movement reached its peak in 1956 when 33 percent of the non-agricultural work force belonged to a union; the percentage has declined since then to about 16 percent.
Business.
Seventy percent of all interest group organizations having a Washington presence represent business, and business PACs have increased more dramatically than any other category of PACs.
Most large firms now have offices in Washington that monitor legislative activity.
Business interests are generally unified when it comes to promoting greater profits, but are often fragmented when policy choices have to be made.
(cont.)
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LO 11.5 Image: For unions, few issues are as important as job security for their members.

10. How Interest Groups try to Shape Policy
Lobbying
Electioneering
Litigation
Going Public

11. How Groups Try to Shape Policy
Lobbying
“communication by someone other than a citizen acting on his own behalf, directed to a governmental decisionmaker with the hope of influencing his decision” (Lester Milbrath)
Two basic types of lobbyists:
Regular, paid employees of a group
Temporary hires

12. How Groups Try to Shape Policy
Lobbying
Lobbyists:
are a source of information
help politicians plan political strategies for legislation
help politicians plan political strategies for reelection campaigns
are a source of ideas and innovations
Mixed evidence as to whether lobbying works

13. Plenty of evidence to the contrary suggests that lobbying can sometimes persuade legislators to support a certain policy.
Examples include opposition to gun control legislation by the National Rifle Association and intensive lobbying against the 1988 Catastrophic Health Care Act conducted by the nation’s most wealthy senior citizens.
It is difficult to evaluate the specific effects of lobbying because it is hard to isolate its effects from other influences.
Like campaigning, lobbying is directed primarily toward activating and reinforcing one’s supporters.
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Figure 11.3 The Big Spenders on Lobbying,

14. How Groups Try to Shape Policy
Electioneering
Direct group involvement in the election process
Groups can help fund campaigns, provide testimony, and get members to work for candidates; some form PACs.
Political Action Committee (PAC): Political funding vehicles created by 1974 campaign finance reforms, PACs are used by interest groups to donate money to candidates.
PACs help pay the bill for increasing campaign costs.
Most PAC money goes to incumbents.

15. How Groups Try to Shape Policy
Litigation
If an interest group fails in one arena, the courts may be able to provide a remedy.
Interest groups can file amicus curiae briefs to influence a court’s decision.
amicus curiae: briefs submitted by a “friend of the court” to raise additional points of view and present information not contained in the briefs of the formal parties
Class Action lawsuits permit a small number of people to sue on behalf of all other people similar situated.

16. How Groups Try to Shape Policy
Going Public
Because public opinion makes its way to policymakers, groups try to:
cultivate a good public image to build a reservoir of goodwill with the public
use marketing strategies to influence public opinion of the group and its issues
advertise to motivate and inform the public about an issue

17. Iron Triangle
Info; positive legislation; access
Positive legislation; money; info.
POLICY
AREA
Money; votes; info.
Info.; positive enforcement
Enforcement support; info.
Info.; access; positive enforcement
Additional interests change the relationship from an Iron Triangle to an ISSUE NETWORK