Join us for conversations that inspire, recognize, and encourage innovation and best practices in the education profession.
Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and more.
Interest Groups: Organizing To Influence
Learning Objectives
After completing this session, you will be able to:
This penultimate unit delves into the role of interest groups in American political life. America has, as Tocqueville noted, long been a nation of joiners. We have a long history of joining together for common purposes, and thus it no surprise that organized groups prevail throughout the political system. As the unit shows, however, interest groups are not easily categorized. There is a wide variety of interests represented in the political system and they use an equally wide array of tactics and strategies. Part of this unit demonstrates the vibrancy of strategies and tactics employed by groups attempting to influence public policy.
The framers of the U.S. Constitution understood that organized interests would always attempt to exert influence on policy. They developed a constitutional system of republican government that takes organized interests as a given, and thus allows interests to weigh in on policy-making in various ways. In making the case for the Constitution’s ratification, James Madison placed the problem of organized interests at the center of his theory of republican democracy. In “Federalist No. 10,” he warns of the “mischief of factions” (i.e., organized interests) that could threaten individual or other groups’ liberties. The remedy for the problem of factions lies not in trying to eliminate them, but in controlling their effects. One solution is to encourage the proliferation of various groups of different shapes, sizes, and motives so that no one group dominates the others in ways that undercut basic rights and liberties.
Interest groups are any organization of people with policy goals who work within the political process to promote such goals. Groups attempt to influence policy in various ways including:
Many interest groups in society are those focused on advancing their members’ economic interests. Some have a large membership base, while others represent only a few members.
Trade associations, for example, represent one segment of the economy (e.g., defense contractors, trial lawyers) but often take a stand on a variety of policy matters. Because their members have a direct economic incentive to support the group’s actions, economic interest groups tend to be well funded and very professional.
Economic interest groups often combine the services of professional lobbyists with other efforts to help their members. They may help write letters, place phone calls, meet with decision-makers, and, in the case of large membership organizations such as unions, engage in demonstrations directed at decision-makers.
Citizen action groups, also known as public interest groups, are another type of enduring interest group. Some are generally concerned with a broad range of issues that affect the public at large, such as social or environmental issues. Examples include Common Cause or the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Others, including the National Rifle Association (NRA) or the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) may be committed to one or a small cluster of issues. Those groups that focus on one issue are also known as single-issue groups. Most citizen action groups are relatively well funded, and many employ the same tactics (e.g., hiring lobbyists, electioneering, litigation, etc.) used by economic interest groups. But because they have large memberships, mobilizing their members to promote the group’s causes is also an important tactic.
Non-membership groups are a fast-growing segment of the organized interest universe. These groups include corporations that maintain offices in Washington and many state capitals. Other non-membership groups include universities and state and local governments. Non-membership groups may hire their own lobbyists or employ outside consultants to track and influence legislation.
Even without large-scale permanent organizations, citizens often organize themselves into ad hoc associations aimed at influencing public policy decisions. These organizations are often directed at a single cause such as neighborhood beautification or school reform. Because of their narrower focus, they tend not to outlive the issue that originally spurred their creation. Lacking financial resources and organizations, these grassroots associations depend on membership mobilization through letters, phone calls, personal contacts, and demonstrations to pursue their causes. Because they lack permanence and economic motivation, size and members’ unity may constitute the greatest strength of ad hoc associations.
Many interest groups employ the services of former government officials (e.g., former Congress members, cabinet officials, and military officers) as lobbyists because these former officials are able to use their personal contacts and intimate knowledge of policy-making processes on behalf of the interests they represent. The interaction of mutual interests among Congress members, executive agencies, and organized interests during political struggles over policy-making is sometimes referred to as an iron triangle. While members of an iron triangle are expected to fight on behalf of their interests, constituents, or governmental department, they often seek policy outcomes that produce benefits for all members of the “triangle.”
Pre-Viewing Activity and Discussion (30 minutes)
Before viewing the video, discuss the following questions:
Watch the Video (30 minutes) and Discuss (30 minutes)
The video includes three segments:
1. The Battle Over Crusader
Most long-lasting interest groups focus on advancing the economic interests of their members. Because their members have a strong economic incentive to band together, they are likely to be well-funded professional organizations that can employ lobbyists and mount sophisticated public relations campaigns. The battle over the Crusader weapons system presents an example of how one economic interest used its resources to influence the policy process. In the end it was decided that Crusader would remain “canceled,” but United Defense would still retain a $475-million contract to continue the development of Crusader’s cannon. That contract would employ workers in several congressional districts, which was a major concern of Congress members. The Army gained progress toward a new weapons system, while the consultants, lobbyists, and public relations specialists who worked on behalf of United Defense got nice commissions for their work.
Discussion Questions
2. Organizing From the Heart: The Battle Over Reauthorization of the 1996 Welfare Reform Law
Citizen action groups advocate on a wide range of social and environmental issues, and use many of the same tactics as economic groups to reach decision-makers. But often they must rely more on mobilizing their membership to act in an organized and concerted way. The battle over reauthorization of the Welfare Reform Act illustrates the mobilization efforts of one citizen action group.
Discussion Questions
3. David and Goliath Go at It Again: The South Pasadena Freeway Fight
Sometimes the most effective groups are local grassroots organizations dedicated to a single cause. Lacking financial resources and permanent organizations, these groups rely on committed citizens to write letters, make phone calls, and sometimes to demonstrate, all in pursuit of their cause. The fight over a freeway plan in the Los Angeles suburb of South Pasadena is a good example of a grassroots organization in action.
Discussion Questions
Post-Viewing Activity and Discussion (10 minutes) [
1. What Exactly Is a “Special” Interest? (10 minutes)
In “Federalist No. 10,” James Madison developed a theory of interest groups that he believed supported the cause of constitutional ratification. Responding to past political philosophers who contended that a democratic republic could only thrive on a small scale in societies with few competing interests, Madison advanced a new and radical conception of organized interests. According to Madison, the causes of faction are “sown in the nature of man.” Thus, to try to prevent factions from expressing themselves would be against human nature, and ultimately would undermine the basic liberty that we value as free people. Instead of removing the causes of factions, Madison proposed that we control their negative effects. One way to do this is to encourage the formation of many types of interests, so that by opposing each other they prevent one or more factions from violating the rights of all others, and ultimately the public interest. Madison wrote, “Extend the sphere [of interests], and you take in a greater variety of parties and interests; you make it less probable that a majority of the whole will have a common motive to invade the rights of other citizens.”
One frequently hears complaints about “special interests” that seek unfair influence in the democratic process to promote their particular agenda. Such complaints are not new, but instead can be found in all periods of American history. In many cases it is clear that one person’s special interest is another’s public interest. Try to develop a definition of a “special” versus “public” interest, and include real examples. What factors can we use to determine the difference between special and public interests?
Read the following Readings from Unit 15 to prepare for next week’s session.
Read next week’s Topic Overview.
You may want to have your students do the post-viewing activities: Tocqueville Would Be Proud: Today’s Interest Group Universe and What Exactly Is a Special Interest? They are provided for you as blackline masters in the Appendix of the print guide.
The Readings for Democracy in America unit 14 are available here for download as a PDF file. You’ll need a copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader to read the files. Acrobat Reader is available free for download from adobe.com.
Download Unit 14 Readings, Interest Groups: Organizing To Influence
Questions
Introduction—Interest Groups: Organizing To Influence
In any acceptable version of democratic government, people organize to influence public policy—well-organized groups are called interest groups. Tocqueville explained that above the government’s institutions, “and beyond all these characteristic forms, there is a sovereign power, that of the people, which may destroy or modify them at its pleasure.” The many ways that the sovereign people influenced the government was a central concern for Tocqueville. “It remains to be shown in what manner this power, superior to the laws, acts; what are its instincts and its passions, what the secret springs that retard, accelerate, or direct its irresistible course, what the effects of its unbounded authority, and what the destiny that is reserved for it” (179). Interest groups perform a wide range of functions in American politics including acting as a conduit for the power of the people. The destiny of the government of the United States is directed and resisted by citizens acting in accordance with each other. Interest groups perform an important representative function—they speak for their members. Not only do these institutions speak for people, they give people a way to be politically involved in their society. Interest groups, furthermore, educate people—they send members magazines, email, and notices; keeping them abreast of the latest events and problems in their area of interest. They teach people to be involved in their world and ways to participate. Interest groups also educate non-members and the larger political community in such a way that they help to set the concerns and issues faced by the larger community.
Within political science, the study of interest groups was a way to critically engage with sociological studies that succeeded in demonstrating that politics was often highly influenced by a very small group of people. Sociologists argued that these people move between business and government, always retaining their positions of privilege and power. Their families, furthermore, retain their wealth for generations. Studies of this powerful elite criticized American society as maintaining a surprising degree of privilege for the very wealthy. America, they reported, was not quite the land of opportunity it often pretended to be. Political scientists responded with attempts to define the United States as a pluralist or interest group society. They maintained that society in the United States was so plural that no group could sustain cohesion over a very wide range of issues for very long. Citizens had too many interests, too many issues and to many ways to make their opinions heard for any one group to dominate for very long.
The previous and following units explore many of the issues of how and who influences government—questions of the media, political parties, and political participation. This unit explores some documents generated by interest groups—pamphlets, leaflets, fliers, songs, and membership appeals—in order to flesh out the day-to-day functioning of interest groups that were involved in grand questions of voting rights and imperialism.
http://www.alldc.org–The American League of Lobbyists is a membership organization dedicated to advancing the interests of the lobbying profession. The group’s Web site provides an overview of the interest advocacy profession and updated information on issues that affect lobbyists.
http://www.commoncause.org–Common Cause bills itself as “a nonprofit, nonpartisan citizen’s lobbying organization promoting open, honest, and accountable government.” Common Cause members investigate the role of interest group money in political campaigns.