Chapter 10 interest groups

1. Chapter 10 interest groups Mark P. Petracca, “The Rediscovery of Interest Group Politics”

2. First Amendment establishes the right “to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” Thomas Paine “denounced factions and parties for their tendency to subvert government by using it to further their own particular interests at the expense of the public good.” James Madison “acknowledged the inevitability of the faction, warned of its potential for majority tyranny, and defended the capacity of a representative republic to check and balance its mischief.” Petracca

3. “Pluralism continues to serve as a model of American politics and as a foil for contemporary political analysis.” Pluralism “became both the empirical account and normative vision of American politics.” Encouraged the participation in politics through group participation. Belief that “political resources were distributed unequally in the polity to be sure, but those inequalities were dispersed and noncumulative.”

4. “Given the fragmented and decentralized nature of the American political system, there were numerous multiple access points for group influence.” Example of both venue shopping and veto points. Framing - Pressure groups to interest group or organized interest. Key political terms

5. Defining a special interest: “An interest is special if it consists of or is represented by a fairly small number of intense supporters who cannot expect that their cause will receive strong support from the general public except under unusual circumstances.” “A generic term used to refer to membership- or nonmembership-based organizations or institutions that engage in activities to seek specific policy or political goals from the state.” Variety of definitions

6. Two faces of interest groups • “wary and fearful of the influence that interest groups wield in the political system” • “Concerned with the mischiefs of faction.” • “might abuse the power derived from the exercise of legitimate power.” • “values the role that interest groups play in the process of political representation.” • “views interest groups as indispensible to democratic government.” • “interest groups are indispensible for the functioning of a modern democracy”

7. On page 262 of the textbook graph shows continual growth of interest groups in Washington DC (since 1980). In 1992, Petracca argued that interest group activity was cyclical. This does not necessarily address the question of quantity, but of the nature of those groups. Petracca saw group activity as a backlash from the previous generation, cycling through public action, private action, and transitional periods. Cyclical or growth?

8. Political affiliation of interest groups

9. Follow the money

10. “The resurgence of business interests in the 1950s after the unprecedented growth of government during the New Deal and WorldWar II led… Hans Morgenthau (1960:266) to condemn it as a “new feudalism.” By the end of the turbulent 1960s, private action had given way to “lobbying for the people.” Backlash example

11. 1970s and 1980s “the popular perception is that interest groups are a cancer, spreading unchecked throughout the body politic, making it gradually weaker, until they eventually kill it.” Framing of unions, teachers, environmentalists, and civil rights groups (ACLU) as dangerous special interests. Mobilization of business

12. “Advocacy explosion”, “lobbying explosion”, a dramatic transformation of the structure of interest representation”, and “a transformation in the way much public policy is made.” Absence of a reliable baseline. Page 12 – statements of previous decades very similar in different circumstances. Uncertainty of change

13. Interest groups and bureaucracy

14. Disparity in counting? Private vs public? Lobbyists for lobbyists How do you measure?

15. “Prompted wide-ranging debate about the danger they posed to political parties and governability.” “Defended as a way of transforming American politics in a fashion more compatible with authentic democracy.” Single issue groups

16. State and local advocacy groups defunded Growth of foreign interests in lobbying GAO in 1986 reports 76 former federal officials representing 166 foreign clients from 52 nations and 2 international organizations. Increase in lobbying in state capitals Changing nature of lobbying

17. To Do List: Lobby Congress, participate in election campaigns, litigate, raise money, mobilize grassroots support, lobby the White House, form coalitions with other organizations, interact with other interest representatives, interact with the bureaucracy, and mobilize mass publics. Not there for conversion, but to make sure their legislator works to influence others and votes the right way. Interest group activity

18. Money magnifies influence. “The new professional lobbyists can turn any issue – natural gas deregulation, the Chrysler bailout, or funding for the B-1 bomber or the MX missile system – into a political campaign, complete with national and targeted advertising designed to shape public opinion and stimulate an appropriate outpouring of public support for the advocated position.” Grassroots or astroturf?

19. Changes in the process of selecting candidates. Parties used to be gatekeepers, now anyone can run, leading to more extreme candidates. As party strength declines, interest groups pick up the slack. Reagan united religious conservatives, transformed the political identities of established groups while dividing the identities of others, and politically reunified Amercan business and attached it to the Republican party. Decline of political parties

20. “’literally uncountable points’ in the policymaking process that facilitate acces and influence for individuals and groups.” “These changes multiplied’ the number of actors in Congress to whom an organized interest might usefully seek access’ and increased ‘the number of points in the law making process at which interests may try to exert influence.’ As a result, ‘organized interests bent on influencing officials’ were left with ‘little choice but to escalate the range and volume of their activities.’” Evolving structure of the federal government

21. Why interest groups are on the rise

22. “tend to over-represent the better-off and businesses.” Which came first, the interest group or the program? Textbook suggests that government develops a program and interest groups form up around it. Petracca book indicates it is the other way around Brief history of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Operated fine for 30 years of market stability until privatized, that is when it became a special interest. Interest groups and economic interests

23. Is openly working with interest groups a corrupt practice, or a way to ensure equal representation in government? Which system is more likely to find labor representation as strong as corporate representation? French antipluralism: what does this tell us about the “ban the burqas” law? Money + politics = corruption. What did Campos and Root say about the relationship between money, bureaucracies, and special interests. Other countries US union membership by decade

24. Compare gini scores 29 23 29.3 26 32 27 34 30.9 37.6 32 45 32.7

25. Same thing happened in the Great Depression. “Because they were presumed to be safe” – this was because Fannie Mae mortgages were safe prior to privatization and deregulation of the 1980s. Investors were not necessarily aware of the changes in lending standards. Zero down and high debt to income ratios. Mortgage meltdown

26. Public financing in other countries, less money in politics. Rise of PACs, thought to be reform, made it worse. Soft money: negative advertising against opponent, provides deniability to candidate. Michael Dukakis and Willie Horton, John Kerry and Swiftboat Veterans. Money vs membership – socioeconomic status of members. Hong Kong protest of housing costs by middle class in business suits. AARP has power beyond its numbers, but must proceed carefully.

27. Approaching lawmakers Approaching the administration Approaching the judiciary Appeals to the public Demonstrations Violent protest Strategies and venue shopping

28. Interest group theory Very similar to the ideas presented by Anthony Downs. Whereas Downs looked at the cost-benefit analysis of acquiring information, Olson looked at the cost-benefit analysis of interest group organization. Small groups are more successful at organizing because they have an easier time clarifying their common interests. Because benefits are concentrated and not diffuse, there is less of a free-rider problem. Mancur Olson