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Interest Groups

Learn about interest groups and their role in advancing and protecting shared interests, providing representation, and influencing policy-making. Explore the similarities and differences between interest groups and political parties, and discover the various types of interest groups and their methods of influence.

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Interest Groups

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  1. Interest Groups

  2. Interest Group are: • Organizations composed of individuals who share one or more interests in common and who have formed an association for their purpose of advancing or protecting their interests

  3. Interest groups are similar to political parties • Provide method of participation for people • Act as linkage institution • Provide representation for members • Educate people and leaders about issues • Agenda building-pushing their issues to front of political consciousness • Program monitoring-making sure policies are carried out according to their wishes

  4. Similarities continued… • Provide campaign contributions for elections • Goal of influencing policy • Provide factions for electoral competition

  5. Parties Similar views on most issues Broad coalition of members Affect policy by getting people elected to office Interest Groups Similar views on one or a handful of issues Narrow focus Affect policy through access and lobbying Differences between political parties and interest groups

  6. Business groups-largest and most powerful of interest groups that represent large business corporations, chambers of commerce, small business National Association of Manufacturers American Petroleum Institute-represents 400 oil and gas corp. US Chamber of Commerce: 3 million businesses, 2,800 state chambers, Types of Interest GroupsPrivate Interest groups: pursue chiefly economic interests that benefit their members

  7. Campaign for workers’ issues like minimum wage, workplace safety, industry protection from overseas competition AFL-CIO-88 unions and trade groups United Auto Workers Union National Education Association Teamsters Union Labor Groups

  8. Farm groups that lobby for farm subsidies, environmental issues, genetic engineering American Farm Bureau Association In 2005, over $25 billion paid out Agriculture Groups

  9. Groups that represent occupations that require some special training (question: what do they lobby for?) AMA-American Medical Association ABA-large and well-funded group representing lawyers Professional Groups

  10. Elderly Foreign governments AARP-powerful lobby for people over 55 with a lot of clout on issues like Social Security and prescription drugs. Seniors vote in large numbers Other Private Interest Groups

  11. Consumer Groups: Nader’s Raiders Women’s Groups: NOW Religious Groups Environmental Groups: Audubon Society, Sierra Club Public interest groups: groups that lobby for benefits and interests that are not limited to its members

  12. National Rifle Association: very rich and powerful Abortion: Operation Rescue, Planned Parenthood Civil Rights: NAACP, LULAC (a group rising in importance as the Hispanic population grows) PETA Single Issue Groups: groups that look at a single issue they want to change

  13. Methods Interest groups try to influence the making of public policy by using tactics that are effective for them such as donating campaign funds, filing lawsuits, electioneering. Lobbying provides access for interest groups and forces Congress to take action on their issue. Sometimes no action is a successful strategy because nothing changes, for the interest group.

  14. Direct lobbying • Personal Contact: meeting with policymakers and doing what they can to persuade them to support their cause • Providing Expertise: using their specialized body of knowledge about a certain topic to aid in writing legislation • Testifying at hearings: provide information for Congressional hearings to get their message out and get free publicity (see iron triangle)

  15. More direct methods - Lobbying the bureaucracy: once the law is passed, they try to get the law enforced in a way that benefits them by providing expertise, lobbying for friendly appointments and strategies to implement the law - Lobbying the courts: filing class action law suits and friend of the court briefs (amicus curiae) to influence judges in civil cases that involve topics that affect them; and it helps to build precedent decisions in their favor

  16. Final direct method • Giving money: Interest groups endorse candidates who support their interest and then help finance that candidate’s campaign by using PACs. • PACs give billions of dollars primarily to congressional campaigns and to incumbents. • PACs are limited by law to give $5,000 for each campaign (hard money), but there are no limits on donations to parties (soft money). • PACs can also create issue ads without specifically endorsing a particular candidate.

  17. Fortune Magazine "Power 25 Survey for 2001"The Top 25 Interest Groups • October 2, 2002 • Fortune Magazine periodically produces a list of the most influential interest groups in Washington, D.C.  This is called the Fortune Power 25 Survey.  The top 25 interest groups on its Survey  for 2001 is listed below . You can find that WEB page at: http://www.fortune.com/lists/power25/index.html • 1.  National Rifle Association2.  American Association of Retired People (AARP)3.  National Federation of Independent Business4.  American Israel Foreign Affairs Committee 5.  Association of Trial Lawyers of America6.  AFL-CIO7.  Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America8.  National Beer Wholesalers of America9.  National Association of Realtors • Top spenders today • 10.  National Association of Manufacturers11.  National Association of Homebuilders of the United States12.  American Medical Association13.  American Hospital Association14.  National Education Association of the United States15.  American Farm Bureau Federation16. Motion Picture Association of America17.  National Association of Broadcasters18.  National Right to Life Committee19.  Health Insurance Association of America20.  National Restaurant Association21.  National Governors' Association22.  Recording Industry Association of America23.  American Bankers Association24.  Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America25.  International Brotherhood of Teamsters

  18. Indirect Methods • Mobilizing grassroots: Letter campaigns, phone campaigns-getting members to act on their own • Molding public opinion: ads, rallies, rating political leaders; cultivating a positive image of their group in the eyes of the public • Coalition building: ex. Daylight Savings Time Coalition was made up of lobbyists representing 7/11, Kingsford charcoal, amusement parks, lawn and garden centers, meat producers, and travel companies

  19. Iron triangle Money and jobs to constituents and donors Commercial interests Army Corps of Engineers

  20. Transportation Committee Media not in triangle and people or public not in triangle because doesn’t fit Committee provides legislative access and information, Unions provide money and votes Budget support, information, positive legislation comes from Congress, technological information, feedback Triangles are policy driven; they also pick a policy that is simple and not controversial Transportation Iron Triangle Truckers Unions, AAA, Teamsters Department of Transportation Information support from Unions, positive enforcement from Bureaucracy

  21. Desegregating the Military • three routes • a court case arguing that failure to desegregate the military constituted a violation of the “equal protection of the laws” clause of the 14th Amendment • a law, passed by Congress, to accomplish their goals • press the president to use his power as commander-in-chief to desegregate the military through an executive order

  22. Why the 3rd option? • Truman was receptive, Congress was not, and the court had not yet overturned Plessy • President’s Commission on Civil Rights in December 1946. That committee had issued a report in 1947 called To Secure These Rights

  23. Desegregating Public Schools • they could have pursued desegregation in each of the states by seeking to have state legislatures ban desegregation • Congress and President weren’t real options because this was before a large federal role in education • since the late 1940s, the federal courts had increasingly been examining the meaning of the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment

  24. Open Accommodations • Johnson said: “We have talked long enough in this country about equal rights . . . . It is time now to write the next chapter, and to write it in the books of law.” • Civil Rights Act of 1964, a grand legislative accomplishment

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