Chapter 11: Groups and Interests
Chapter Review
The Character of Interest Groups
The framers of the American Constitution feared the power that could be wielded by organized interests. Political liberty paves the way for pluralism, which cultivates competition for influence among organized groups and interests. The framers attempted to limit the danger of interest groups gaining too much power by ensuring a plethora of groups would compete against each other for influence in government. However, not all political forces have an equal ability to take part in group politics; therefore, such competition may undermine political equality and ultimately undermine democracy itself. In this way, liberty and equality may be at odds in our political system.
I. Why do interest groups form?
- An interest group is a voluntary membership association that pursues a common interest through political participation.
- Individuals form groups in order to increase the chance that their views will be heard and their interests treated favorably by the government.
II. What interests are represented (and not represented) by these groups?
- The most common form of interest group is one that concerns itself with economic issues such as business groups and trade associations.
- Other represented interests include agriculture, labor, professional associations, public interest groups, ideological groups, and public-sector groups.
- Many groups are not organized and simply remain “potential interests.”
III. What are the organizational components of interest groups?
- The key organizational components of an interest group include leadership, money, an agency or office, and members.
- Many groups are initially organized by political entrepreneurs with a strong commitment to a particular set of goals.
- The organization must build a financial structure capable of sustaining the organization and funding the group’s activities.
IV. What are the benefits of interest-group membership?
- All interest groups must attract and keep members, but they find the problem of free riders difficult to overcome because of the “collective good” nature of group objectives.
- Groups provide material, solidary, purposive, and informational benefits to attract and retain members.
- AARP is one of the most successful interest groups at providing benefits for individual members to help offset the free-rider problem.
V. What are the characteristics of interest-group members?
- Interest-group members tend to have higher incomes, higher levels of education, and hold management/professional occupations.
- Unlike political parties, which can organize and mobilize large numbers of people who may have limited resources, interest groups generally organize smaller numbers of the well-to-do.
- Since interest groups have become more influential in modern politics, we have seen a shift in political power to the more well-to-do.
The Proliferation of Groups
I. Why has the number of interest groups grown in recent years?
- There has been a dramatic increase in the number and types of interest groups over the last forty years.
- This explosion has had two basic origins—the expansion of the role of government and the New Politics movement.
- The 1960s and 1970s saw an expansion of federal authority over a broad range of public policy issues and a corresponding increase in the number of interest groups to put pressure on government officials.
- The New Politics movement is made up of upper-middle-class professionals and intellectuals for whom the civil rights movement and the antiwar movements were formative experiences. These individuals would later turn their attention to other public issues—the environment, public safety, and good government—that form the base of our modern public interest groups.
- The Internet and other technology have helped these interest groups communicate and more easily mobilize their members.
- New Politics groups style themselves as public interest groups, using benign-sounding names to give the impression that they serve the public good.
Strategies: The Quest for Political Power
I. What are some of the strategies interest groups use to gain influence?
- The quest for political influence or power takes many forms, but among the most frequently used strategies are cultivating access, lobbying, using the courts, going public, and using electoral tactics.
- In order to exert influence on Congress or other parts of government, interest groups must first cultivate access to decision-makers.
- Lobbying is an attempt by an individual or group to influence the passage of legislation by communicating directly with the government, usually Congress.
- The most successful lobbying firms are the ones that promise access to government officials.
- Some lobbyists, such as Jack Abramoff, have gone too far in trying to affect legislation, but most interest groups and lawmakers help each other without breaking the law.
- Powerful companies like Wal-Mart and Microsoft have successfully lobbied Congress to get favorable treatment and have even crafted specific language of a bill.
- Interest groups also lobby the president. Lobbyist Tom Kuhn successfully convinced the EPA in President Bush’s administration to weaken rules limiting power-plant emissions of mercury.
- Interest groups also use the courts to influence policy through filing lawsuits, filing amicus briefs, sponsoring litigation, or providing attorneys.
- Going public is a strategy of attempting to mobilize the public through institutional advertising, social movements, and grassroots mobilization.
- Groups form political action committees (PACs) to contribute money to candidates and support the campaigns of politicians sympathetic to their objectives.
- Given the high cost of campaigning, politicians have become dependent on interest-group PAC money.
- Furthermore, PAC money from wealthy interest groups helps candidates that support those wealthy interests.
- Finally, the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act limited soft money to the parties but did not significantly reduce the influence of PACS. Hence, it strengthened interest groups and weakened the parties by increasing candidates’ reliance on PAC money.
- A new tactic sometimes used by interest groups is sponsorship of ballot initiatives at the state or local level.
- Since the initiative process is so expensive, most initiatives are sponsored by wealthy interest groups seeking to circumvent legislative opposition.
Thinking Critically about Groups and Interests: The Dilemma of Reform
I. What are the problems involved in curbing the influence of interest groups?
- Few programs and policies ever reach the public agenda without the vigorous support of important national interest groups.
- President Madison believed that organization and the proliferation of interests was inevitable in a free society.
- Groups seem to have a greater impact than voters upon the government’s policies and programs. Failure to regulate interest groups lessens equality and weakens democracy, yet over-regulating interest groups would limit freedom.
- In the realm of group politics, liberty seems inconsistent with equality.