Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. …...Types of Interest Groups LO 11.5: Identify the...
Transcript of Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. …...Types of Interest Groups LO 11.5: Identify the...
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman
Chapter 11: Interest Groups
• The Role of Interest Groups
• Theories of Interest Group Politics
• What Makes an Interest Group Successful
• How Groups Try to Shape Policy
• Types of Interest Groups
• Understanding Interest Groups
• Summary
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman
Chapter Outline and Learning
Objectives
• The Role of Interest Groups
• LO 11.1: Describe the role of interest
groups in American politics.
• Theories of Interest Group Politics
• LO 11.2: Compare and contrast the theories
of pluralism, elitism, and hyperpluralism.
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Chapter Outline and Learning
Objectives
• What Makes an Interest Group Successful
• LO 11.3: Analyze the factors that make some interest groups more successful than others in the political arena.
• How Groups Try to Shape Policy
• LO 11.4: Assess the four basic strategies that interest groups use to try to shape policy.
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Chapter Outline and Learning
Objectives
• Types of Interest Groups
• LO 11.5: Identify the various types of
interest groups and their policy concerns.
• Understanding Interest Groups
• LO 11.6: Evaluate how well Madison’s
ideas for controlling the influence of
interest groups have worked in practice.
The Role of Interest Groups LO 11.1: Describe the role of interest groups
in American politics.
• Interest Group
• An organization of people with shared
policy goals entering the policy process at
several points to try to achieve those goals.
• Interest groups pursue their goals in many
arenas.
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Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman
The Role of Interest Groups
• Interest groups are distinct from
political parties.
• Political parties fight election battles;
interest groups do not field candidates for
office but may choose sides.
• Interest groups are policy specialists;
political parties are policy generalists.
LO 11.1
To Learning Objectives
Theories of Interest Group Politics LO 11.2: Compare and contrast the theories
of pluralism, elitism, and hyperpluralism.
• Pluralism
• Elitism
• Hyperpluralism
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Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman
Theories of Interest Group Politics
• Pluralist Theory
• Competition among groups trying to get
their preferred policies.
• Elite Theory
• Upper-class elite holds most of the power
and run government.
• Hyperpluralist Theory
• Groups are so strong that government is
weakened.
LO 11.2
To Learning Objectives
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Theories of Interest Group Politics
• Pluralism
• Groups provide a link between the people
and the government.
• Groups compete and no one group will
become too dominant.
• Groups play by “rules the game.”
• Groups weak in one resource may use
another.
• Lobbying is open to all groups. To Learning Objectives
LO 11.2
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Theories of Interest Group Politics
• Elitism
• Groups are unequal in power.
• Awesome power is held by the largest
corporations.
• Power of a few is fortified by interlocking
directorates.
• Other groups win minor policy battles, but
corporate elites win the big decisions.
To Learning Objectives
LO 11.2
To Learning Objectives Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman
LO 11.2
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Theories of Interest Group Politics
• Hyperpluralism
• Groups have become too powerful as government tries to appease every conceivable interest.
• Interest group liberalism is aggravated by numerous iron triangles.
• Trying to please every group results in contradictory and confusing policy.
To Learning Objectives
LO 11.2
What Makes an Interest Group
Successful LO 11.3: Analyze the factors that make some
interest groups more successful than others
in the political arena.
• The Surprising Ineffectiveness of
Large Groups
• Intensity
• Financial Resources
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LO 11.3
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What Makes an Interest Group
Successful
• Surprising Ineffectiveness of Large Groups
• Potential group – People who might be group members because they share some common interest.
• Actual group – Potential group members who actually join group.
• Collective good – Something of value that cannot be withheld from a potential group member.
To Learning Objectives
LO 11.3
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What Makes an Interest Group
Successful
• Surprising Ineffectiveness of Large
Groups (cont.)
• Free-rider problem – Problem of people
not joining because they can benefit from
the group’s activities without joining.
• Selective benefits – Goods that a group
can restrict to those who actually join.
To Learning Objectives
LO 11.3
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LO 11.3
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What Makes an Interest Group
Successful
• Intensity
• A large potential group may be mobilized through an issue that people feel intensely about.
• Politicians are more likely to listen a group that shows it cares deeply about an issue.
• Single-issue groups – Narrow interest, dislike compromise, and members are new to politics.
To Learning Objectives
LO 11.3
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What Makes an Interest Group
Successful
• Financial Resources
• Not all groups have equal amounts of money.
• Monetary donations translate into access to the politicians, such as a phone call, meeting, or support for policy.
• Wealthier groups have more resources and access, but they do not always win on policy.
To Learning Objectives
LO 11.3
How Groups Try to Shape Policy LO 11.4: Assess the four basic strategies
that interest groups use to try to shape
policy.
• Lobbying
• Electioneering
• Litigation
• Going Public
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Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman
How Groups Try to Shape Policy
• Lobbying
• Communication to a governmental decision
maker with the hope of influencing his or
her decision.
• Lobbyists are (1) a source of information;
(2) helping to get legislation passed; (3)
helping to formulate campaign strategy;
and (4) a source of ideas and innovations.
LO 11.4
To Learning Objectives
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LO 11.4
To Learning Objectives Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman
LO 11.4
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How Groups Try to Shape Policy
• Electioneering
• Direct group involvement in the electoral
process by helping to fund campaigns,
getting members to work for candidates,
and forming political action committees
(PACs).
• PACs are political funding vehicles created
by the 1974 campaign finance reforms.
To Learning Objectives
LO 11.4
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How Groups Try to Shape Policy
• Litigation
• Amicus curiae briefs – Written arguments
submitted to the courts in support of one
side of a case.
• Class action lawsuits – Enable a group of
people in a similar situation to combine
their common grievances into a single suit.
To Learning Objectives
LO 11.4
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How Groups Try to Shape Policy
• Going Public
• Groups try to (1) cultivate a good public
image; (2) build a reservoir of goodwill with
the public; (3) use marketing strategies to
influence public opinion of the group and
its issues; and (4) advertise to motivate
and inform the public about an issue.
To Learning Objectives
LO 11.4
To Learning Objectives Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman
LO 11.4
Types of Interest Groups LO 11.5: Identify the various types of
interest groups and their policy concerns.
• Economic Interests
• Environmental Interests
• Equality Interests
• Consumer and Other Public Interest
Lobbies
To Learning Objectives
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Types of Interest Groups
• Economic Interests
• Labor – Union organizations press for
policies to ensure better working conditions
and higher wages.
• Business – Interests generally unified
when it comes to promoting greater profits
but are often fragmented when policy
choices have to be made.
LO 11.5
To Learning Objectives
To Learning Objectives Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman
LO 11.5
To Learning Objectives Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman
LO 11.5
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Types of Interest Groups
• Environmental Interests
• Environmental groups promote policies to
control pollution and to combat global
warming, wilderness protection, and
species preservation.
• They oppose supersonic aircraft, nuclear
power plants, drilling in Alaska’s Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge, and strip mining.
To Learning Objectives
LO 11.5
To Learning Objectives Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman
LO 11.5
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Types of Interest Groups
• Equality Interests
• Two sets of interest groups, representing
minorities and women, have made equal
rights their main policy goal.
• Equality groups press for equality at the
polls, in housing, on the job, in education,
and in all other facets of American life.
To Learning Objectives
LO 11.5
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Types of Interest Groups
• Consumer and Other Public Interest
Lobbies
• Public interest lobbies – Groups that
seek a collective good, and the
achievement of which will not selectively
and materially benefit the membership or
activists of the organization.
To Learning Objectives
LO 11.5
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Types of Interest Groups
• Consumer and Other Public Interest
Lobbies (cont.)
• Consumer groups – In 1973, Congress
responded to consumer advocacy by
creating the Consumer Product Safety
Commission, which it authorized to
regulate all consumer products and to ban
products that were dangerous.
To Learning Objectives
LO 11.5
Understanding Interest Groups LO 11.6: Evaluate how well Madison’s ideas
for controlling the influence of interest
groups have worked in practice.
• Interest Groups and Democracy
• Interest Groups and the Scope of
Government
To Learning Objectives
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Understanding Interest Groups
• Interest Groups and Democracy
• James Madison wanted a wide-open system in which groups compete.
• Pluralists – Public interest prevails from this competition.
• Elite theorists – Proliferation of business PACs is evidence of interest group corruption.
• Hyperpluralists – Influence of groups lead to policy gridlock.
LO 11.6
To Learning Objectives
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Understanding Interest Groups
• Interest Groups and the Scope of
Government
• Interest groups seek to maintain policies
and programs that benefit them.
• Interest groups pressure government to do
more things.
• As the government does more, more
groups form to get more.
To Learning Objectives
LO 11.6
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LO 11.1 Summary
• The Role of Interest Groups
• Interest groups consist of groups that
participate in the political process in order to
promote the policy goals which members
share.
• They usually focus their efforts on one specific
issue area, unlike political parties, which have
to address all issues on the public agenda.
To Learning Objectives
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Interest groups are often policy
.
A. specialists
B. generalists
C. regulators
D. implementors
LO 11.1
To Learning Objectives
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman
Interest groups are often policy
.
A. specialists
B. generalists
C. regulators
D. implementors
To Learning Objectives
LO 11.1
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LO 11.2 Summary
• Theories of Interest Group Politics
• The theory of pluralism asserts that the
policymaking process is very open to the
participation of all interest groups, with no
single group usually dominating.
• Pluralists tend to believe that as a result the
public interest generally prevails.
To Learning Objectives
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LO 11.2 Summary
• Theories of Interest Group Politics
(cont.)
• Elitism contends that an upper-class elite holds
the power and makes policy, regardless of the
formal governmental organization.
• Hyperpluralism – So many groups are so
strong, that government is weakened and its
ability to make effective policy is crippled.
To Learning Objectives
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Which of the following is NOT an element
of the pluralist group theory of politics?
A. Groups provide a crucial link between people and government.
B. Groups usually follow the rules of the game.
C. Groups compete with each other.
D. Groups become too dominant.
LO 11.2
To Learning Objectives
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Which of the following is NOT an element
of the pluralist group theory of politics?
A. Groups provide a crucial link between people and government.
B. Groups usually follow the rules of the game.
C. Groups compete with each other.
D. Groups become too dominant.
To Learning Objectives
LO 11.2
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LO 11.3 Summary
• What Makes an Interest Group
Successful
• Groups that have large numbers of potential
members are usually less effective than groups
that have a smaller potential membership,
because it is easier to mobilize members of a
smaller group, who have more incentive to
participate.
To Learning Objectives
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LO 11.3 Summary
• What Makes an Interest Group
Successful (cont.)
• Both large and small groups can benefit from
the intensity of their members’ beliefs.
• Money always helps lubricate the wheels of
power, though it is hardly a surefire guarantee
of success.
To Learning Objectives
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The more a group has,
the more successful it tends to be.
A. intensity
B. financial resources
C. potential members
D. all of the above
LO 11.3
To Learning Objectives
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The more a group has,
the more successful it tends to be.
A. intensity
B. financial resources
C. potential members
D. all of the above
To Learning Objectives
LO 11.3
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LO 11.4 Summary
• How Groups Try to Shape Policy
• Lobbying is one group strategy and lobbyists
are most effective with those legislators
already sympathetic to their side.
• Electioneering becomes critical because it
helps put supportive people in office.
To Learning Objectives
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LO 11.4 Summary
• How Groups Try to Shape Policy (cont.)
• Groups operate in the judicial as well as the
legislative process, using litigation in the courts
when lobbying fails or is not enough.
• Many groups project a good image, employing
public relations techniques to present
themselves in the most favorable light.
To Learning Objectives
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Which of the following is NOT a tactic
interest groups use?
A. Lobbying to influence policy.
B. Forming political action committees to influence elections.
C. Fielding candidates for office in general elections.
D. Litigating to influence policy through the courts.
LO 11.4
To Learning Objectives
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Which of the following is NOT a tactic
interest groups use?
A. Lobbying to influence policy.
B. Forming political action committees to influence elections.
C. Fielding candidates for office in general elections.
D. Litigating to influence policy through the courts.
To Learning Objectives
LO 11.4
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LO 11.5 Summary
• Types of Interest Groups
• Economic interest groups involve business and
labor, with business focusing on governmental
regulations and subsidies and labor focusing
on policies to ensure good working conditions
and wages.
• Environmental interests are global warming,
pollution, wilderness protection, and
endangered species.
To Learning Objectives
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LO 11.5 Summary
• Types of Interest Groups (cont.)
• Equality interest groups promote the fair
treatment of groups that have been
discriminated against in the past, such as
African Americans and women.
• Public interest lobbies pursue policy objectives
that they believe will benefit all citizens, such
as consumer protection laws.
To Learning Objectives
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Which of the following type of interest
group tends to push for a collective good?
A. Consumer groups
B. Environmental groups
C. Equality groups
D. All of the above
LO 11.5
To Learning Objectives
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Which of the following type of interest
group tends to push for a collective good?
A. Consumer groups
B. Environmental groups
C. Equality groups
D. All of the above
To Learning Objectives
LO 11.5
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LO 11.6 Summary
• Understanding Interest Groups
• The issue of controlling interest groups
remains as crucial to democracy today as it
was in James Madison’s time.
• Some scholars (Pluralist Theory) believe that
the growth of interest groups has worked to
divide political influence, just as Madison
hoped it would.
To Learning Objectives
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LO 11.6 Summary
• Understanding Interest Groups (cont.)
• Critics of the Pluralist Theory (Elite Theory and
Hyperpluralist Theory) focus on the political
action committee (PAC) system as the new
way in which special interests corrupt
American democracy, or on the problem of too
many groups having too much power to block
policy change.
To Learning Objectives
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Which theory of interest group politics
best correlates with Madison’s ideas for
controlling interest groups?
A. Hyperpluralist Theory
B. Elite Theory
C. Pluralist Theory
D. Class Theory
LO 11.6
To Learning Objectives
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman
Which theory of interest group politics
best correlates with Madison’s ideas for
controlling interest groups?
A. Hyperpluralist Theory
B. Elite Theory
C. Pluralist Theory
D. Class Theory
To Learning Objectives
LO 11.6
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Text Credits
• Quote from Americans Against Food Taxes ad used with
permission.
• “The Power 25” from Fortune, May 28, 2001, Time Inc. All rights
reserved. Used by permission and protected by the Copyright Laws
of the United States. The printing, copying, redistribution, or
retransmission of the Material without express written permission is
prohibited.
• Statistical Abstract of the United States, 2010, Table 650,
http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2010/tables/10s0650.pdf.
Federal Election Commission.
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