Interest groups and policy-making

1. Interest groups and policy-making

2. Final exam: Saturday, December 8th 9:00-11:00 AA1043

3. Papers Due Friday, Nov. 30th no later than 5:00 p.m.

4. An initial view • Interest groups, along with parties, interpose themselves between the state and civil society • Interest (or pressure groups) are groups which seek to influence, rather than control, government policy • Sometimes referred to as organized interests • Far more numerous than political parties in liberal democracies

5. Varieties Interests may be articulated by • Ethnic, linguistic or religious groups • Associations formed to represent or provide services to their members: • Trade Unions, Professional Associations • Producer groups, e.g. diary farmers, steel manufacturers • Parts of larger organizations: • government agencies & departments • academic units (Political Science Department, Faculty of Arts)

6. Advocacy groups Associations advancing a cause: • Greenpeace • Sierra Club • Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) • Heart and Lung Association • National Citizens Coalition • Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Water Trough Association (London, 19th c)

7. Thinking about interest groups

8. Negative views: • Interest groups are a blot on society • Special interests pursue private interests & never the public interest

9. Alternate view: • Interest groups are a necessary feature of liberal democracies • Government need them to understand what different parts of society are thinking them • Individuals and groups need interest groups in order to have their concerns heard • Pluralist view: the public interest emerges from the pursuit of private interests

10. Explaining interest groups: Society-centred v.state centred explanations…

11. Society-centred explanations: Interest groups are regarded as normal inliberal democracies: • James Madison in The Federalist Papers (1787): Interests (and interest groups) thrive wherever there is liberty • An expression of civil society: citizens choose to associate when • they want something from government • something is bothering them

12. State-centred explanations: • Policies generate interests: • The more the state regulates, the more that interests will organize in order to shape the way in which they are regulated: • The case of the British Medical Association (BMA) before and after the establishment of the National Health Service (NHS) in 1948 • Newfoundland Medical Association

13. Collective Action Problems The theory of collective action (from Mancur Olson,The Logic of Collective Action, 1968): • Self-interested individuals will be unwilling join associations if they can free ride & receive benefits (collective goods) anyway

14. Predictions The theory of collective action: • Predicts membership only in groups which provide specific benefits • and not in groups which pursue the public interest

15. Problem: • People do join advocacy promotional groups with little obvious or direct benefit • But, this varies from person to person and from society to society: • Not everyone is a joiner • And in some societies, people are more likely to associate than in others

16. Sectoral vs. peak associations • Sectoral groups: active in only one sector of the economy – e.g • Dairy farmers • Fisheries Union, • Association of Seafood Producers (NL) • Steel Workers • Peak Association - a federation or confederation of sectoral associations • Conference Board of Canada • Canadian Labour Congress • Trade Union Congress (UK)

17. Protective vs. Promotional Groups • Protective groups represent sectors of the economy: • National Farmers Union (UK) • Board of Trade, Chamber of Commerce • CUPE, NAPE, MUNFA, CAUT, AUCC • Canadian Medical Association

18. Promotional Groups: promoting a cause • National Rifle Association • Canadian Civil Liberties Association • CARAL, Right to Life • NIMBY groups

19. Advocacy think-tanks Institutes which pursue causes, seek to advocate a position or set of positions: • Fraser Institute • Atlantic Institute of Marketing Studies • Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives • Project for the New American Century • Cato Institute

20. Access and activities: Protective groups: • For many, principal function is to provide services to their members • However, also represent members’ interests to government via • Informal contacts with elected officials and bureaucrats • Serving on advisory councils or boards • Lobbying • Organizing promotional campaigns

21. Channels of access • Vary from country to country and among interest groups • Interest groups try to go where the power is – if they can gain access • In the United States, to the Congress • In other liberal democracies, to government departments • where policies are formulated and • where regulations drafted once a policy is put in place

22. Protective vs. promotional groups • Protective groups often work quietly, most frequently through contacts with government bureaucracy • Often have greater influence on details of legislation and regulations implementing them than on the broader lines of government policy • Promotional groups rely more on the media, mass campaigns because they lack access to bureaucrats and policy-makers

23. Why do government officials consult with interest groups? • Consultation sometimes required -- via advisory or consultative boards • Groups often provide valuable information and expertise • Groups can be used to explain government policy to their members

24. Policy communities and issue networks: • Policy community: • A close-knit community of those most closely involved -- snug and cozy • Government officials • Key interest groups, including firms, interest groups, and employee or professional associations • e.g. organization of health or social welfare sectors in Germany • Issue network: a looser and more open network of those involved or interested

25. Problem: • How much consultation with interest groups is desirable? • Are interest groups a blight or a necessary feature of an open polity? • Can a society privilege certain groups but not others? For example: • Trade union federations & employers associations? • Non-governmental organizations (NGOs)? • New Social Movements?