1. Do now
Visit this link – we’ll discuss the article 10 minutes after the bell: tinyurl.com/APGov33

2. Agenda
Current events
Quiz
Lecture - interest groups
Group research – methods used by different groups

3. “Public Interest Groups Sue to Overturn Trump Regulatory Order”
What lawsuit is the article about? Who is creating these lawsuits?
Is this direct or indirect action?
What kind of political ideology do the lawsuits oppose?

4. Quiz!
Clear your tables
5 minutes

5. Interest Groups
Organizations who share common objectives and attempt to influence government policy

6. How do they differ from political parties?

7. Difference between parties & interest groups
Political Parties
Interest Groups
Government
Want to control it
Want to influence it
Political issues
Platforms cover a variety of issues
Tend to focus on specific issues

8. How do they link us to government?
Organize and amplify member opinions
Aka lobbying
Educate members on current affairs

9. Why are they so common?

10. Encouraged by our civil liberties
Natural political tensions push people to organize in their best interests
What’s the benefit of joining an interest group over a political party?

11. Benefits
In addition to being more accessible and flexible than political parties, they offer many benefits…
Solidary
Material
Purposive

12. Solidary Incentives

13. Material Incentives

14. Purposive Incentives

15. Types of interest groups
More than 22,000
Economic groups are most common and active
Labor
Business
Agriculture
Professional
The poor

16. Types, continued… Environmental
Public interest ( groups-n /)
Single Issue – National Rifle Association, Right to Life Committee, Planned Parenthood

17. Where does the funding go?
Total
Dem%
GOP%
Business
75%
$1,233,136,672
42%
57%
Labor 6%
$90,105,425
94%
Ideological 5%
$75,920,267
51%
49%
Other 9%
$144,991,377
38%
60%
Unknown
$92,861,587
30%
67%

18. What’s that money go to?

19. Best-known technique is lobbying
Lobbying is the act of trying to influence policymakers and takes many forms
Refers to meeting “in the lobby” away from work

20. Attempts to change policy!
Direct
Lobbying
Publish voting records
Build alliances
Donate to campaigns
Indirect
Create public pressure – boycott, protest, media, etc

21. Lobbying takes many forms depending on the target
Congress – bring draft legislation, speeches, public opinion data, etc.
Executive – limited, focused on creating access to executive agencies that regulate business
Courts – creating lawsuits for a cause (ex. NAACP – Brown v. Board), briefs supporting particular sides of a case (“amicus curiae”)

22. What makes an interest group successful?
Size
Intensity
Financial resources

23. Interpreting the influence of interest groups
Elitism
Pluralism
Majoritarianism

24. With your groups
Which of these theories do you find the most convincing? Why?

25. New term - Hyperpluralism
TOO MANY GROUPS - interest groups causing political chaos
Government trying to please everyone, resulting in policies are haphazard and ill-conceived
Ex – limiting soda consumption but paying farmers to produce corn syrup

26. Groups… NRA NAACP Mothers Against Drunk Driving
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America
American Israel Public Affairs Committee
What are they? What methods do they tend to use? Why?