1. Interest Groups Interest Representation (Cont’d) March 13th, 2003

2. What Interest Groups Do -- Lobbying tactics  quiet consultations  lobbying elected officials  lobbying bureaucratic officials  mobilizing public opinion  media campaigns  public demonstrations the paradox of interest group influence  the most powerful interest groups are often the most quiet!

3. Interest Groups and Democracy liberal democracy  pluralism  as long as individuals are free to form interest groups, interest group competition represents interests in society  groups do not have to be equal; groups have to have equal opportunity to compete

4. Interest Groups and Democracy majoritarian democratic critique of interest group pluralism  interest group politics is grossly uneven  well-financed, privileged interests hold the advantage  the paradox of interest group influence  the strongest interest groups (e.g. economic interests) do not have to lobby in order to have influence  interest group influence displaces the influence of the general public  special interest groups

5. Interest Groups and Democracy elite democracy  interest group competition and lobbying (even if grossly uneven) is fine so long as...  political elites retain the power to make overall decisions in the general welfare the summation of all interest group demands does not equal the general welfare

6. Federal and Unitary Systems Territorial Representation in Democratic Systems March 13 th, 2003

7. Organizing Territory

8. Options for Organizing Territory Large Unitary Gov’t Small Unitary Gov’ts

9. Organizing Territory what is good about small, unitary governments  close to the people  can represent specific needs of specific area and groups (linguistic/ethnic) that live within those areas what is good about large, unitary government?  may be more effective common security integrated economy  may protect against domination of minorities by majorities

10. Options for Organizing Territory Confederation Large Unitary Gov’t Federalism Small Unitary Gov’ts

11. Options for Organizing Territory Confederation Large Unitary Gov’t Federalism Small Unitary Gov’ts Unitary Government: may have different levels of government; however, subordinate governments exist at the behest of the central government

12. Options for Organizing Territory Confederation Large Unitary Gov’t Federalism Small Unitary Gov’ts Unitary Government: may have different levels of government; however, subordinate governments exist at the behest of the central government Confederation: sovereign governments band together and delegate certain powers to a central government; constituent governments retain the right to rescind this grant of power; central government exists at the behest of constituent units

13. Options for Organizing Territory Confederation Large Unitary Gov’t Federalism Small Unitary Gov’ts Unitary Government: may have different levels of government; however, subordinate governments exist at the behest of the central government Confederation: sovereign governments band together and delegate certain powers to a central government; constituent governments retain the right to rescind this grant of power; central government exists at the behest of constituent units Federal Government: has two orders of government which are legally independent from one another and sovereign within their respective spheres of jurisdiction; neither exists at the behest of the other and neither can take power away from the other

14. Federalism 24 federations of 180 sovereign states  40% of world population

15. Options for Organizing Territory Confederation Unitary Gov’t Federalism European Union (EU) Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, US, Venezuela, Yugoslavia France United Kingdom Italy

16. Federalism – What is It? main elements two orders of government  NOT levels of government division of powers  constitutional grant of powers and jurisdiction to each order of government judicial review  court adjudicates between the two orders of government

17. Federalism – Why? always about representing territorially-based interests that would not be adequately represented in a unitary system while enjoying benefits of larger system

18. Federalism – Variants centralized and decentralized federalism

19. Level of Centralization (Confederation) Large Unitary Gov’t Federalism Decentralized Federation Centralized Federation Small Unitary Gov’ts

20. Level of Centralization Decentralized Federation Centralized Federation Canada Switzerland Australia Germany United States Malaysia

21. Level of Centralization (Confederation) Large Unitary Gov’t Federalism Decentralized Federation Centralized Federation US 2002 Small Unitary Gov’ts US 1789 Canada 2002Canada 1867

22. Main Points! federalism is not neutral it is about emphasizing the representation of territorially-based interests (e.g. ethnic, religious, linguistic) while de-emphasizing those that are not federalism in different countries is designed to represent different sets of territorially-based interests