Interest Groups

What are they? Interest groups are LINKAGE institutions, which means they link the public with policymaking. They can be public or private They want to influence public policy and disseminate their group's viewpoint They use lobbyists and Political Action Committees (PACs) to disseminate material

Why Are There so Many in the U.S.? Diverse population = diverse interests Constututional system allows for many places to influence policy- think "decentralization" of a federalist system We have weak political parties They have grown rapidly since the 1960s but have historically responded to the hot political issues of the time period, so in the 1770s there were groups fighting for independence, in the 1830s and 1840s religious orgs. and anti-slavery movement, etc.

4 Reasons why they rise: o economic developments reshape interests o government policy can create them (i.e. veterans or American Farm Bureau Federation) o Young leaders o When the gov. is involved in many activities it forces the creation of groups who will try to influence those activities

What Kinds of Organizations are There? Institutional Interests individuals or organizations representing other organizations (i.e. GM) lawyers trade or governmental association (National Association of Independent Retailers) some are narrow (i.e. cotton assocations) and some wide (chamber of commerce) can represent education

Membership Interests In contrast to other countries, Americans join religious and civic and political orgs. Americans believe that organized activity can produced results

Incentives to Join Solidary incentives- we join out of the pleasure of meeting in small groups (PTA, League of Women Voters, NAACP) Material incentives- join to get services from membership (AARP or the Illinois Farm Bureau) Purpose incentive- we join because we like their purpose- sometimes these are ideological interest groups Public Interest Lobby- when the purpose will benefit nonmembers, often controversial topics o Ralph Nader, PIRGs o These groups often do better when their opponents are in power

From Social Movements to Organizations Many organizations arise out of social movements and often create many smaller organizations from the original one created Environmental Movement 1890s Sierra Club organized to promote conservation Wilderness Society, National Wildlife Federation Feminist Movement 1920s League of Women Voters organized to promote voter education/mobilization Range from moderate like League of Women voters to more extreme (National Abortion Rights Action League) to ones that take on specific issues (Women's Equity Action League)

Union Movement 1930s major union movement 1945 union membership peaked Now unions struggle to survive (except in some instances like government unions or teachers unions)

How do Interest Groups Get Money? Foundation Grants Federal Grants and Contracts gov. doesn't give directly to interest group but may support a project of the group's Direct Mail targeted appeals for money

Who Joins Interest Groups? The same people join interest groups who are more likely to vote- better off, educated professionals This means that much of the public perceives interest groups then of representing a minority of the population

What do Interest Groups Actually Do? Information Legislators rely on lobbyists for their expertise on issues Lobbyists need to remain credible to keep the relationship with legislators- they are the specialists on issues political cues- legislators make decisions to stay in office and often look to large, visible interest groups to gauge support for a proposal ratings get made on legislators

Public Support - insider strategies no longer play a large role as Congress has become much more individualistic over time - Instead, outsider strategies have become more common grassroots lobbying- basically, these groups try to generate public support for change and get the public to pressure lawmakers to enact the change - they use direct mail, television, internet, etc. to get the message out - usually, these campaigns only garner very strong support on more controversial and understandable issues (so, the public isn't interested in tax policy as much as other issues)

Political Action Committees Interest groups don't use money now as much as they used to before the campaign reform finance law in 1973, which restricted how much an individual could give and made it legal for organizations to give money, so PACs rose rapidly Sometimes members of Congress tell PACs what to do Some members of Congress have created their own PACs

Anyone can set up a PAC (over half are sponsored by corporations) Ideological PACs have grown the most recently PAC contributions are pretty small No strong research supports the idea that PAC money affects how legislators vote but it does by access

Disruption as a tactic Occasionally interest groups use more violent means of getting a message across Even if they aren't violent (sit in demonstration) politicians still have to respond to them

Regulating Interest Groups Interest group activity is protected by the first amendment Attempts at regulation o Federal Regulation of Lobbying Act- requires registration of lobbyists and filing of financial reports- Supreme Court ruled that this only applied to lobbyists with direct contact and it was not well enforced o new law to tighten filing and registration o Bush- lobbyists had to disclose how much they were giving and to whom o Obama- former lobbyists couldn't get appointments in his admin.

Tax Code and Campaign Finance laws are harder for interest groups to deal with o For example, non-profit groups are tax exempt as long as they don't spend a lot of time lobbying o Campaign finance laws limit the amount a PAC can give a candidate to $5,000