Patterson ch09

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Chapter 9

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The Interest-Group System
Interest group: any organization that seeks to influence
public policy
Differs from a political party in that parties address a broad
range of issues
Federalism and separation of powers fuels interest groups
Tocqueville: “a nation of joiners”

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The Interest-Group System
Economic groups
Business groups
Labor groups
Farm groups
Professional groups
Material incentives

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The Interest-Group System
Citizens’ groups
Purposive incentives
Groups based on social groupings
Single-issue groups
Ideological groups
Citizens’ groups difficult to classify

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The Interest-Group System
The organizational edge: economic groups versus
citizens’ groups
Unequal access to resources
 Private goods versus collective goods
 The free rider problem
The advantages and disadvantages of size
 The size factor: business groups smaller and more
efficient
 AARP and strength in numbers

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Inside Lobbying: Seeking Influence
through Official Contacts
Acquiring access to officials
“Revolving door”
Supply officials with information—policy support
Lobbyists must understand both the issues and the process
Money is key element—amount contributed is staggering

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Inside Lobbying: Seeking Influence
through Official Contacts
Acquiring access to officials
Lobbying Congress
Lobbying the executive branch
Lobbying the courts

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Inside Lobbying: Seeking Influence
through Official Contacts
Webs of influence: groups in the policy process
Iron triangles
 Bureaucrats, lobbyists, legislators
 Small, informal, stable
Issue networks
 Officials, lobbyists, and policy specialists
 Temporary
 More frequent than iron triangles

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Outside Lobbying: Seeking
Influence through Public Pressure
Constituency advocacy: grassroots lobbying
Specialty of the AARP
Members of the public try to get lawmakers’ attention

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Outside Lobbying: Seeking
Influence through Public Pressure
Electoral action: votes and money
PACs (political action committees)
 Funneling a group’s election contributions
 PAC contributions limited to $10,000 per candidate for
each election cycle
 Most PACs associated with business
 Give much more heavily to incumbents

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Outside Lobbying: Seeking
Influence through Public Pressure
Electoral action: votes and money
Super PACs or independent-expenditure-only-committees
(IEOCs)
 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010)
 Not allowed to contribute/coordinate directly to the party
or candidate
 Unrestricted fundraising and spending
 Disclosure of donors not required

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The Group System: Indispensable but
Biased in Favor of Economic Groups
The contribution of groups to self-government: pluralism
Serving the “public interest”?
Flaws in pluralism
Interest-group liberalism
Not equally representative

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The Group System: Indispensable but
Biased in Favor of Economic Groups
A Madisonian dilemma
A free society must allow pursuit of self-interest.
Checks and balances work to protect rights, but also
exaggerate the influence of minorities.
Groups can wield too much influence over individual
policies or agencies.