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Interest Groups

Interest Groups. Why are groups so important? Can individuals made change acting alone? No, unless perhaps that person is extremely wealthy Aggregation of resources Money, members = power Forming advocacy coalitions Collective voice louder than single voice

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Interest Groups

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  1. Interest Groups • Why are groups so important? • Can individuals made change acting alone? • No, unless perhaps that person is extremely wealthy • Aggregation of resources • Money, members = power • Forming advocacy coalitions • Collective voice louder than single voice • Groups or “special interest groups” are sometimes viewed as a bad thing. Why?

  2. Interest Groups: Background • Have been around since founding • Madison mentions them in Federalist 10 • A relatively small number of groups until the 1960s • Major growth in interest groups in the 1960s • Why? • Diversity of population • Diffusion of power: more actors involved, so more room for lobbying • Increasing number of agencies/programs = more clients • Weakening of political parties: people turn to groups • Technology: Easier to form/maintain groups • Increasing public demands (resources and rights)

  3. Kinds of Interest Groups • Institutional interest groups • Membership because you belong to a particular institution, such as Univ. of Kentucky • Share some interests with other students • Affordable tuition • Quality education • Membership interest groups • Groups you choose to join • NRA, Green Peace, AARP

  4. Types of Membership Groups • Economic (private interest) • Are primarily interested in benefits for members • Example: Labor Unions --> The economic security of the group’s members are directly at stake • Public interest groups • Seek to create broad benefits for everyone • Example: environmental groups • ***Non-members of public interest groups are free-riders • Other types of groups • Churches, for example

  5. Why Do People Join Groups? • To gain some sort of a benefit. • Economic well being or gain • The desire to do good • The desire to belong to or identify with a group • The desire to find a way to make one’s voice heard • To get the freebies: magazines, journals, calendars, etc.

  6. What Do Groups Do? • Lobbying (providing information) • Lobbying individual members of Congress, Congressional Committees, members of bureaucracy • Lobbyists can provide information that is unavailable or unknown to elected officials • Has to be GOOD information, or else no one would listen to them again • Support candidates • Money to campaigns (directly or indirectly) • Votes (mobilization of members to vote for candidate)

  7. When Lobbying Fails… ....Interest Groups turn to other strategies: • Mobilize members to take action • Contacting members of Congress, boycotting (Mont. Bus Boycott), March on Washington • Sue in court • NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Inc • Most prominent victory was Brown v. Board • Public protests and “direct action” • Riots, Protests (World Trade Organization)

  8. Groups and Power • We all know that some groups have more power than others • Think of the most powerful interest groups in the United States:  AARP  AFL-CIO (Labor Unions)  NRA Why do some groups have more power than others?

  9. Differences in Group Power • Resources • Money • Information • Size of membership • Not just membership, but ability to mobilize members • Voting, Contacting, Protest/Petition • Reasons for membership • Direct economic incentives • Material inducements • Congruence of goals with prevailing ideas and values • If public opinion supports a group’s cause

  10. Free-rider Problem • Public goods are goods that can benefit everyone, and from which no one can be excluded • Two characteristics: • non-rival -- one person's enjoyment or consumption of the good does not prevent others from using it • non-excludable -- people cannot be prevented from using the good • Examples: • Roads, Nat’l defense, clean air, end of world hunger etc.

  11. Free-rider Problem • Non-excludability leads to the free rider problem: • A free rider is a consumer or producer that benefits from the actions of others without paying • Because of the free rider problem, public goods are usually provided by the government, which levies taxes to pay for the goods

  12. Overcoming Free-rider Problem • Small Groups • Peer pressure, solidarity incentives against free-riding • Coercion • Lobbying governmental jurisdictions to hire, approve, or certify only their members, to force free-riders to join • Selective benefits • Journals, consulting services, etc. • AARP: World’s largest mail-order pharmacy, low-cost insurance, discounts on goods/products/services (all for $12.50/yr.)

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