Chapter Outline

Introduction

An interest group can be defined as a set of individuals who organize to promote a shared political interest. Also called a "faction" or "pressure group" or "special interest," an interest group is characterized by its formalized organization and by its pursuit of policy goals that stem from its members' shared interest. Interest groups promote public policies, encourage the political participation of their members, support candidates for public office and work to influence policymakers.

Political parties are different from interest groups in addressing a broad range of issues in order to appeal to diverse blocs of voters. Parties exist to contest elections. They change their policy positions as the voters' preferences change; winning is their primary mission. Interest groups focus on more specific issues of immediate concern to their members and become involved in elections primarily to influence public policy, not to actually hold office.

The Interest-Group System

1. Many interest groups function chiefly to protect or produce economic goods and services. Economic groups can offer prospective members private goods, which are the benefits that a group can grant directly to the individual member. Economic interest groups include the following:
   1. Business groups concentrate their efforts on issues directly affecting business interests.
   2. Labor groups promote policies that benefit workers in general and union members in particular.
   3. Agricultural groups consist of general and specialty farm associations.
   4. Professional groups have lobbying associations to promote the interests of their members.
2. Citizens' groups are non-economic groups, which emphasize purposive incentives. Purposive incentives are opportunities to promote a cause in which members believe. These groups have less financial resources for political activity than economic groups, so they offer members collective goods as incentives to participate. Collective goods are benefits shared by society. Citizens' groups must deal with the free-rider problem, which means that individuals will benefit from the activity of the groups even if they have not contributed to the group. Three general types of citizens' groups include:
   1. Public-interest groups, which attempt to act in the broad interests of society as a whole. An example is the League of Women Voters.
   2. Single-Issue groups, which are organized to influence policy in just one area. An example is the Sierra Club.
   3. Ideological groups, which are concerned with a broad range of policies from a general philosophical or value perspective. An example is the Christian Coalition.
3. Governmental interest groups exist to represent foreign and subnational governments. These groups represent city, county and state governments throughout the U.S. as well as foreign nations whose interests are affected by policies pursued by the U.S. government.

Inside Lobbying: Seeking Influence Through Official Contacts

1. Inside lobbying focuses on supplying officials with information and expressing group concern in order to promote the group's perspective.
2. It is directed more at policymakers who are more inclined to support than oppose the group.
3. Money is an essential ingredient of inside lobbying because of the high level of funding required to mount an effective lobbying effort in Washington.
4. The targets of inside lobbying are officials in all branches of government.
1. Successful lobbying of Congress is based on providing credible information to members of Congress, avoiding threats or "arm twisting" and maintaining positive contact over long periods of time.
2. Lobbying of executive agencies is aimed at influencing policy decisions at the implementation and initiation stages. In return, interest groups support government agencies when Congress is reviewing their programs.
3. The courts can be lobbied by filing lawsuits to challenge legislation or bureaucratic policy. Groups can also indicate support for one or the other parties in a case by filing an amicus curiae brief.

Iron triangles and issue networks describe two patterns of group influence through which most public policy is decided.

1. An iron triangle is a stable set of bureaucrats, legislators and lobbyists who seek to develop and perpetuate policies beneficial to their common purposes.
2. An issue network is a less formal grouping of officials, lobbyists and policy specialists who are brought together temporarily by their shared interest and expertise in a particular policy area. Participants may leave or join the network as policy dictates. Once the issue is resolved, the network disbands. Interest groups function in both iron triangles and issue networks. Unlike iron triangles, which are now less prevalent, issue networks can involve opposing groups.

Outside Lobbying: Seeking Influence Through Public Pressure

1. Grassroots lobbying is pressure created by mobilizing constituents, which is designed to convince government officials that a group's policy position has broad public support.
2. Electoral action involves gaining influence through elections by contributing money to candidates' campaigns. Through political action committees (PACs), groups can raise money for election campaigns. PAC money has gained in importance for congressional campaigns in the past decade. PACs tend to favor support of incumbents. PACs are formed by corporations as well as by citizens' groups.
3. PACs have been both praised and criticized. They are supported by those who like to pool financial resources for campaigns and criticized by those who feel they are exerting too much influence over public officials.

The Group System: Indispensable But Biased

1. The positive aspects of contributions of groups to self-government are that they can convey to policymakers popular sentiment regarding desired policy. They provide minorities a way to call attention to their needs. In this way diverse interests in society can be accommodated. Lastly, interest groups can raise issues that are neglected by the party system.
2. The negative aspects of pluralist interest group theory focus on interest group liberalism and economic bias.
   1. Interest group liberalism describes the tendency of officials to support the policy demands of interest groups that have a special stake in a policy. They may use society's resources to benefit a minority.
   2. The group representation system gives advantage to America's economically oriented groups, particularly corporations.
   3. Middle class interests are favored over those of less advantaged sectors of society.
3. James Madison described the dilemma inherent in group activity. In a free society, open advocacy of self-interest is desirable even though government could fall under the control of a dominant interest, whether of the majority or of the minority. In order to protect Americans from the potential threat of tyranny from the numerical majority, Madison's proposal for separation of powers and checks and balances actually gives minorities the opportunity to block changes in policies that may be desired by the majority.