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Interest Groups

Interest Groups. Chapter 11. Key Definitions. What is a special interest group? Organization of people with similar policy goals who enter the political process to try and achieve those aims BUT don’t run their own candidates for office

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Interest Groups

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  1. Interest Groups Chapter 11

  2. Key Definitions • What is a special interest group? • Organization of people with similar policy goals who enter the political process to try and achieve those aims BUT don’t run their own candidates for office • Operate at every level of government in the federal government.

  3. Key Linkage Institutions Political Parties People Government Media SIGS

  4. Key Linkage Institutions Political Parties People Government Media SIGS

  5. Test Tip The mass media, political parties, and interest groups are key linkage institutions. Be sure you can identify these linkage institutions. Be sure you can explain the ways that they connect citizens to the government.

  6. SIGS as a Linkage Institution SIGS express their members’ preferences to government policy makers. SIGS convey government policy information to their members. Interest groups raise and spend money to influence policymakers. SIGS form PACS to funnel money to candidates for winning elections

  7. SIGS as a Linkage Institution SIGS Political Parties Nominate candidates, contest elections, seek to gain control of government. Have positions on wide range of public issues. Public organizations accountable to voters • Seek to support officials and influence policy. • Focus on specific issues that affect their membership. As a result, SIGS articulate specific policy positions. • Private organizations accountable to members

  8. Types of SIGS

  9. The Power 25 Fortune Magazine 2001

  10. Types of SIGS Officials in the legislative and executive branches of the federal government control the distribution of billions of dollars. As a result, most industries, corporations, professions and unions have SIGS representing them in Washington D.C. The number of SIGS has increased from 6,000 in 1959 to approximately 22,000 in 2010.

  11. Types of SIGS: Business Groups National Association of Manufactures represents 12,000 small and large manufactures in every industrial sector and all 50 states. NAM focuses on legislation affecting labor laws, minimum wages, corporate taxes, and trade regulations.

  12. Types of SIGS: Business Groups Chamber of Commerce is the world’s largest business federation. Spends $20 million a year lobbying for 3000 local chambers and 3 million members.

  13. Types of SIGS: Business Groups The Business Roundtable is an association of about 150 CEOs of leading US corporations with $5 trillion in annual revenues and nearly 10 million employees.

  14. Types of SIGS: Labor The American labor movement reached its peak in 1956 when 33% of the nonagricultural work force belonged to unions. Today, 16 million Americans, or about 13% belong to a union.

  15. Types of SIGS: Labor The AFL-CIO is the largest labor union both in size and political power. About 10 million workers are members of unions belonging to the AFL-CIO

  16. Types of SIGS: Agriculture Although farmers comprise less that 2% of the population, their interest groups play an influential role. The Farm Bureau and the National Farmers Union are broad-based organizations that speak for farmers.

  17. Types of SIGS: Agriculture Specialized SIGS represent different farm products. National Milk Producers Federation

  18. Types of SIGS: Professional Associations The National Education Association (NEA) represents 3.2 million public school teachers, support staff and retired educators.

  19. Types of SIGS: Professional Associations The American Medical Association (AMA) is the largest association of doctors and medical students.

  20. Types of SIGS: Professional Associations The American Bar Association (ABA) is an association of over 410,000 lawyers and law students.

  21. Types of SIGS: Environmental Groups Leading environmental groups include the Sierra Club, the Audubon Society and the World Wildlife Fund. Environmental SIGS support wilderness protection, pollution control, and animal rights. They generally oppose strip mining, nuclear power plants and offshore drilling.

  22. Types of SIGS: Public Interest Groups Over 2,000 groups champion causes that promote the public good. Leading groups include Common Cause and the League of Women Voters.

  23. Types of SIGS: Public Interest Groups • “Unsafe at any Speed” • National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act. • National Highway Traffic Safety Administration • Shift in responsibility for auto safety from the consumer to the manufacturer. • Seat belts

  24. Types of SIGS: Equality Interests The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is one of the oldest advocacy civil rights groups. The National Organization for Women is the largest group dedicated to women's’ issues.

  25. Types of SIGS: Single-Issue Groups These groups focus all their efforts on one issue. For example, the National Right to Life Committee opposes legal abortion while NARAL lobbies for legal abortion. The National Rifle Association is one of the best known influential single issue groups.

  26. Goals and Strategies

  27. SIGS: Goals • Fundamental Goals • Gain access to policymakers • Influence public policy • Support sympathetic policymakers

  28. SIGS: Strategies -- Lobbying • Lobbying: the process by which SIGS attempt to influence the decisions of policymakers. • Important sources of information • Help with strategy to pass legislation • Help with campaign strategy and motivate members to get involved • Source of ideas and innovation • Does it work?

  29. SIGS: Strategies -- Lobbying • Lobbying Congress • 30,000 lobbyists spend over $2 billion • Testify in congressional committees • Provide information to members of Congress • Meet with congressional aides • Bring influential constituents to Washington to meet with members of Congress

  30. SIGS: Strategies -- Lobbying • “The better lobbyists, when they have a proposal they are pushing, bring it to me along with a couple of speeches, a Record insert, and a fact sheet.”

  31. SIGS: Strategies -- Lobbying • Lobbying the Executive Branch • Most executive lobbying focuses on presenting a point of view to White House aides and other government officials. • SIGS direct particular attention to regulatory agencies.

  32. SIGS: Strategies -- Lobbying • Lobbying the courts (litigation) • Inappropriate to meet with members of the courts. • SIGS can and do take their issues to the courts if they fail in the legislative and executive branches. (Think Brown v. Board of Education) • Amicus curiae briefs (someone, not a party to a case, who volunteers to offer information to assist a court in deciding a matter before it) • Play a role in nominations to the courts.

  33. Test Tip There has been at least one MCQ about PACs on every released exam. It is very important that you understand the function and impact of PACs.

  34. SIGS: Strategies – Contributing Money (electioneering) SIGS form PACs to raise money and make contributions to candidates they support. PAC contributions are regulated. (currently $5000 per candidate per election) Over 4,600 registered PACs. Over half are sponsored by business groups and corporations. Play a significant role in supporting incumbent members of the HOR.

  35. SIGS: Strategies – Contributing Money (electioneering) 527’s are another way that SIGS use money to achieve their goals. 527’s (named for the section of the law in which they were created) can raise unlimited amounts of unregulated money and use it for voter mobilization, issue advocacy, but NOT for candidate advocacy or to be given to candidates These are independent expenditures. Think Swift Boat for Veterans for Truth and MoveOn.Org

  36. The Senate: Lawyers, Drugs, and Money SECTOR | # OF MEMBERS Finance, insurance, and real estate  57 Lawyers and lobbyists  25 Health  5 Agribusiness  3 Labor  2 Energy and natural resources  2 Miscellaneous business  2 Communications and electronics  1 No money raised  3 Total seats | 100

  37. Donations by Industry, 1989-2010

  38. Top corporate donors in the '08 presidential race. Obama McCain Merrill Lynch $373,595 Citigroup $322,051 Morgan Stanley $273,452 Goldman Sachs $230,095 JPMorgan Chase $228,107 AT&T $201,438 Wachovia $195,063 UBS $192,493 Credit Suisse $183,353 PricewaterhouseCoopers $167,900 • Goldman Sachs $994,795 • Microsoft $833,617 • Google $803,436 • Citigroup $701,290 • JPMorgan Chase $695,132 • Time Warner $590,084 • Sidley Austin $588,598 • National Amusements $551,683 • UBS $543,219 • WilmerHale $542,618

  39. SIGS: Strategies – Shape Public Opinion • Going Public • SIGS undertake expensive public relations campaigns to bring an issue to the public. • SIGS use advertising to promote their image. • SIGS may engage in highly visible protest demonstrations. • Business groups rarely use this tactic.

  40. SIGS: Strategies • Lobbying • Congress, presidency, courts (litigation) and bureaucracy • Contributing money to candidates (electioneering) • PACs, and 527’s • Shape public opinion – Going Public

  41. What Makes a SIG Successful?

  42. What makes a SIG successful? • SIZE • Size can be an important asset. • NOT ALWAYS

  43. What makes a SIG successful? • “pressure politics is essentially the politics of small groups.” • E.E. Schattschneider • Pressure politics: political action which relies heavily on the use of mass media and mass communications to persuade politicians that the public wants or demands a particular action. Think prohibition.

  44. What makes a SIG successful? Collective Good Potential group: all the people that could join. Actual group: people that actually join Collective Good: something all share, even the potential members

  45. What makes a SIG successful? • Free-rider Problem • Why should a potential member join a group, pay dues and do the work if they can enjoy the collective good without becoming an actual member?

  46. What makes a SIG successful? • Olson’s laws of large groups • “the larger the group, the further it will fall short of providing an optimal amount of a collective good.” • The bigger the group, the larger the problem • Smaller groups have an organizational advantage over larger groups. • Explains why smaller groups are often more successful than larger groups.

  47. What makes a SIG successful? • How can large groups overcome this disadvantage? • Offer selective • benefits. • Selective benefits are only for actual members—those who join the group. • AARP • Consumers Union

  48. What makes a SIG successful? • Intensity • Groups that have passionately committed activists tend to be more successful than those groups whose members are less intensely involved. • Because of their narrow focus, single-issue groups are able to mobilize intensely committed members.

  49. What makes a SIG successful? • Financial Resources • All SIGS need money to hire lobbyists, support PACs, write amicus curie briefs etc… • Big money can compensate for lack of size and intensity. • Wealthier groups have more money, but do not always get what they want.

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