INTEREST GROUPSRyan D. Williamson

7 April 2015

Agenda

• Attendance• Schedule for rest of semester• Lecture on interest groups• Reading for Thursday

Remaining Schedule

April 7: Kollman ch. 11

April 9: B&G ch. 12, review, course evaluations

April 14: Kollman ch. 9, Quiz 4

April 16: No class

April 21: Kollman ch. 13

April 23: B&G ch. 13, Quiz 5, review

May 5: Final Exam

Questions?

Objectives

• Distinguish between interest groups and social movements.

• Explain the role of collective action problems in politics.

• Describe strategies interest groups use to try to influence policy.

Interest Groups

• Any group other than a party that is organized to influence government• Usually have a narrower focus than parties• Lobbying a common action

• Most interest groups in the US represent business

• Another type of interest groups is public interest groups

Interest Groups by Type

Social Movements

• Groups that use popular participation to influence government

• Social movement are not formal organizations• Can be made up of many interest groups• Develop when groups feel excluded from the political process

Social Movements

Understanding Social Movements

• Why do some succeed in mobilizing people while others fail?• Overcoming collective-action problems• Having established groups and organzations

Collective Dilemmas and Group Politics

• Free rider problem is endemic to organizing• Easy to free ride on the work of interest groups and social movements

• Overcoming collective-action problems• Groups are more likely to succeed when they exist not

just to influence politics and when they curb free riding

Strategies for Overcoming Collective-action Problems• Offering selective incentives• Contributions from special donors• Reliance on entrepreneurs

Coordination Problems for Groups with Similar Goals• Joining forces helps form broad coalitions, but can also lead to coordination problems

• Overcoming coordination problems• Find a common message• Focus lobbying on the same people in government• Organize strategies

Questions?

Determining Group Power

• Can be difficult to measure the effect of lobbying• Many factors might influence a legislator’s vote• Interest groups tend to lobby those who favor their

cause already

• Pluralism in American politics• Interests of the wealthy are overrepresented

Access to Members of Congress

• Legislators tend to grant more access to two types of groups• Groups that represent constituents• Groups that contribute to their campaigns

Inside and Outside Lobbying

• Inside lobbying• Interest groups making direct contact with policy makers• For example, meeting with legislators, giving money

• Outside lobbying• Mobilizing people outside the legislature to put pressure

on policy makers• For example, letter writing, advertisements, protests

Campaign Financing

• Interest groups give billions of dollars to federal candidates

• Helps get the groups access and attention in the future

Campaign Financing

Campaign Contributions: A Prisoner’s Dilemma

In Comparison

• US has more active and numerous interest groups than other democracies• More points of access and pluralism

• Parliamentary democracies have few points of access

• Laws in other countries restrict kinds of lobbying• Corporatist style of interest representation

Questions?

For next time…

• Read Bullock and Gaddie ch. 12