1. Interest Groups

2. Background  Groups have a significant impact on policy  Single-issue politics  Interest groups  Organized membership  Pursuit of policy goals from shared interest of members

3. Economic groups  Make profits, provide jobs, improve pay, or protect occupation  Property is “most common and durable source of factions”  Types:  Business  More than ½  Size factor  Small groups are more united and oftentimes have more resources  Access to financial resources

4. Type I: Labor groups  Active since 1930s  AFL-CIO  9 million members  Only 1 in 8 workers unionized today

5. Type II: Agricultural groups  Farm organizations  American Farm Bureau Federation  Do not always agree on policy issues  Specialty associations too

6. Type III: Professional groups  AMA  ABA  AAUP

7. Private v. Public Goods  Private goods are for an individual and can be withheld  Public goods are benefits to all  Leads to the free-rider problem  Irrational to contribute

8. Citizens’ groups  Organized interests formed to promote a cause that does not provide significant individual economic benefits

9. Types of Citizen Groups  Public-Interest Groups  Less tangible benefits and more widely shared  LWV  Single-Issue Groups  Risen sharply in 30 years  Environmental groups (Sierra Club)  Ideological Groups  Broad agenda from philosophical or moral position  NOW  NAACP

10. Governments  Governments Lobby Each Other

11. Economic v. Citizens  Economic  A: Economic activity provides organization with resources needed  A: Encouraged to join for economic benefits  D: May not support political efforts  Citizen  A: Support political  D: Must raise funds  D: Free-rider problem

12. Lobbying  Make contact with officials  Huge industry—K Street  20,000 in DC  Spend more than $1B annually  Must register

13. Inside Lobbying  Group efforts to develop and maintain close relationships with policymakers  Access does NOT equal influence  But…  Used to use money…now we use information  Congress  Fair play  Provide info, rely on allies, push steadily but not too aggressively  Executive Agencies  Formulation and implementation  Capture Theory  Courts  Judge selection  Law suits

14. Iron Triangle  Small and informal but relatively stable set of bureaucrats, legislators, and lobbyists who seek to develop policies beneficial to a particular interest  Group inside has an inside track  Relationships are iron clad

15. How Iron Triangle Benefits All…  Government agency  Administers program (IG)  Constituent services (C)  Interest groups  Lobby support (GA)  Election support (C)  Congressional subgroup  Budget/program support (GA)  Favorable legislation (IG)

16. Issue Networks  Informal grouping of officials, lobbyists, and policy specialists who come together temporarily around a policy problem  Includes opposing interests

17. Outside Lobbying  Bring constituency pressure to bear on policymakers  Grassroots lobbying  AARP  Votes  Reward friends, punish enemies  Send money  PAC  Ceiling is $10k per candidate  Voluntary contributions from members of employees  Eight times more money to incumbents than challengers  Why?

18. Pluralism  Organized interests are a source of good governance  But is there a “collective interest”?  Minorities can rule if interest group has most clout  Interest-group liberalism  Lowi  Support demands of interest group with special stake in policy  Weakens majority rule  Inefficient use of resources  Unequal distibution

19. Thursday  What do we learn from Tierney? Lots of info here…  What do we learn from the Schwarzenegger video?