American GovernmentInterest Groups

Interest Groups

• An interest group (also called an advocacy group, lobbying group, pressure group or special interest) is a group, however loosely or tightly organized, that advocates for public policy.

• An interest group can be described as an organized group that does not put up candidates for election, but seeks to influence government policy or legislation

Interest Groups & American Politics

• Organized interests have long been a source of fascination for students of American politics

• A. many scholars of interest groups have posited that they play a crucial role in American democracy

• B. groups help to organize public opinion and participation• -iron law of oligarchy -- leaders call the shots they are paid to be

attentive, active, etc.• 1. this is critical because we know that, left to its own devices, the

public is uninformed, unconstrained• 2. and that parties have weakened

• C. In short: attentive, active groups perform many of the functions that traditional political theory says should be performed by either the people or parties• -makes pluralism possible!

Interest Groups in Context

• Interest groups are a ubiquitous part of American politics:

• 7,000 represented in Washington, DC

• Represent virtually every economic, social, ethnic, ideological, religious interest in the nation

• Help with the articulation of these interests

Interest Groups vs. Parties

• Interest groups are often lumped together analytically with political parties. But they are very different --- in at least 4 ways

• A. First, composition• 1. parties include a wide variety of people, with different concerns

and beliefs• -parties seek to aggregate interests

• 2. groups are composed of people with specialized concerns, who focus on a few issues

• -groups seek to articulate (loudly)

• B. Second, function• 1. parties seek, in a comprehensive fashion, to elect a slate of

officials and to organize government• 2. groups seek to influence certain public policy decisions on their

narrow issues

I.G. v. Parties (con’t)

• C. Third, legal status• 1. political parties are treated as parts of the legal

machinery of government• -examples: given money for conventions, no "whites only"

primaries• 2. groups are considered private associations, outside the

formal channels of government, largely protected by 1st amendment

• -as we'll see, makes them hard to regulate

• D. fourth, status of members• 1. parties treat individuals primarily as citizens

• -appeals are based on the common good• 2. groups treat individuals as members

• -appeals are based on more limited (or selfish) grounds

Goals: Access & Influence

Principal goal of groups is to influence policy decisionsA. U.S. system is particularly amenable to groups• 1. constitutional basis - 1st amendment right to redress

government• 2. we are a nation of joiners -- organize ourselves into

voluntary groups• 3. our federal system of separated powers guarantees

numerous access points• -state, local, federal marble cake• (if you lose at one level, move up/down)• -legislative, executive, judicial• (if you lose in one branch, go to others)• -Congress organized into committees/subcommittees - so groups

know where to focus• -elections are generally not publicly funded - groups provide

money• -weak state tradition -- bureaucrats are more subject to outside

pressures than in most other western democracies

Mancur Olson: Logic of Collective Action

• Olson focused on the logical basis of interest group membership and participation.

• The reigning political theories of his day granted groups an almost primordial status.

• Some appealed to a natural human instinct for herding, others ascribed the formation of groups that are rooted in kinship to the process of modernization.

• Olson offered a radically different account of the logical basis of organized collective action.

The Logic of Collective Action

• The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of Groups was first published in 1965. It develops a theory of political science and economics of concentrated benefits verses diffuse costs.

• LCA challenged accepted wisdom in Olson’s day that:• 1) if everyone in a group has interests in common, then they will

act collectively to achieve them; and • 2) in a democracy, the greatest concern is that the majority will

tyrannize and exploit the minority.

• Olson argues that individuals in any group attempting collective action will have incentives to “free ride” on the efforts of others if the group is working to provide public goods. Individuals will not “free ride” in groups which provide benefits only to active participants.

Recall the Free Rider Problem

PERSON APERSON A

SOCIETYSOCIETY

ContributeContribute Don’t Don’t ContributeContribute

ContributeContribute 1 1 5 5 22 -5 -5

Don’t Don’t ContributeContribute

33 10 10 44 -1 -1

Olson (con’t)

• In TLOCA, Olson theorized that “only a separate and ‘selective’ incentive will stimulate a rational individual in a latent group to act in a group-oriented way”.

• That is, only a benefit reserved strictly for group members will motivate one to join and contribute to the group.

• This means that individuals will act collectively to provide private goods, but not to provide public goods.

Free Rider Problem: Interest Groups

PERSON APERSON A

LARGE INTEREST GROUPLARGE INTEREST GROUP

Provide Provide GoodGood

Don’t Don’t Provide Provide GoodGood

JoinJoin 1 1 5 5 22 -5 -5

Don’t JoinDon’t Join 33 10 10 44 -1 -1

Selective Incentives

• Three Types of Selective Incentives• Material• Solidary• Purposive

Material Incentives

• Material Incentives: something of tangible value (tote bag, coffee mug, bumper sticker, monthly magazine, discounts etc.) • Ex. Senior Citizen discounts through the AARP. • a. Best Ex. AAA (Triple A is an interest group

active on automobile safety issues). People join the AAA b/c they want free towing.

• b. Ex. Labor Unions: Closed Shop. In order to work that job, you have to be a member of the union. You join the union (contribute to the ‘public good’), and you get the job. Unions want closed shops because it creates a larger membership and thus more influence.

Solidary Incentives

• Solidary Incentives: intangible rewards from the act of association -- sociability, status, identification – a social interaction benefit.

• The reason why you join is because you want to hang out with the folks who are members of that organization.• Best ex. VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) – open

to anyone who fought overseas, and is primarily a social organization. Veterans wanted to hang out with other veterans. Frats can also be classified as interest groups and they primarily provide social benefits.

Purposive Incentives

• Purposive incentives: intangible rewards related to the goals of the organization --- e.g., working on an election of a supported candidate

• A person joins a group for ‘purposive’ reasons because they so strongly identify with that group’s mission—they want to be a part of the cause—even when they know their actual contribution is irrelevant to the success of the group.

• a. Best ex. Ideologically committed interest groups. Abortion groups (pro-choice, pro-life)

Membership & Stability

• Interest groups that offer material benefits tend to be:• The largest groups• Are the longest lasting

• Solidary groups tend not to be long lasting and tend to fall apart. • The VFW thing was mostly a WWII thing, and thus as that

generation dies out and are not replaced by new blood…they die out.

• Purposive IG’s tend to be the smallest…and they tend to be short-lived. • People burn-out on the effort needed to keep it going. Or the

issue looses saliency…or they win (or loose) on their issue.• Of course, interest groups can offer a mix of benefits. The NRA

doesn’t just rely on material incentives (solidary and purposive benefits are a part of it too).

Do I.G. Leaders Represent Members?

Depends on the selective incentives provided by the IG’s

• In IG’s that rely on material incentives, there tends to be a low correlation b/w the leaders and the members (leaders don’t tend to represent the attitudes of the members). • If you’ve joined for the towing service, it doesn’t

mean you agree with their political objectives…in fact you probably don’t even know what their political agenda is.

• Big reason why Labor Union leadership are Liberal Democrats and the Rank & File Union membership is much more diverse (many more conservative Republicans).

Leadership vs. Members

• In IG’s that rely primarily on solidary incentives, the leadership is better reflective of membership. Though they may have divergent interests, usually they are from the same social groups (i.e. the leaders of the VFW were veterans).

• In IG’s that rely on purposive incentives, there is the highest correlation between leadership and membership views. • If the leadership is supporting political objectives

you don’t agree with, then you’ll quit since the only reason you joined was because of its political objectives. Membership keeps leadership on a ‘short lease’ in these cases.

Membership Organizations

• Peak Business Associations: made up of business associations from a variety of industries

• Trade Associations: made up of business associations from a single industry

• Labor Unions: Made up of either other labor unions or workers

• Professional Associations

Groups in the Federal System: Traditional View

• The traditional view of groups and their role in the federal system concerns their interrelationships between 2 other key parts of the governmental system:• -committee/subcommittee• -bureaucratic agency• -interest group

Groups in the Federal System: Iron Triangle

Iron Triangles: Problems in Democracy

• Many people have suggested that numerous policies are made in the U.S. in these tight triangles

• Notice how stable they are and how each of the "points" benefits the others and is benefited by them

• The preferred position of interest groups in these iron triangles bothers some people:• 1. the interest groups involved are almost always producer

groups• 2. they are often not counter-balanced by consumer groups• 3. some fear that this endangers the public interest

• -tantamount to having Col. Sanders babysit your chicken

Interest Group Bias

• All of this points up a general fact about interest group democracy --- some interests are better organized than others

• We need to consider why that is so, and

• How this organizational bias affects public policy

Recall the Free Rider Problem

• The free rider problem is integral to the formation and organization of groups.

• Governments do so by the use of compulsory taxation schemes

• Interest groups do not have such means at their disposal – rely on selective incentives• Recall: defined as benefits that you get

only if you join the group

Group Formation Biases

• Upshot = some groups are more likely to form than others• Essentially--those that are best able to identify and deliver

selective incentives to their members• Small, concentrated groups easier to organize than large,

diffuse groups• -little solidary reward in large groups• -harder in a large group to see the impact of your efforts

• Homogenous groups easier to organize than heterogeneous ones• -in homogenous groups, it is easier to develop consensus about

what the collective interest is and what it is worth• -easier to provide attractive selective incentives to homogenous

groups (e.g., NRA versus anti-gun groups)• Producer groups more likely to form than consumer groups

• -producers are fewer in number, more homogenous, more concentrated interest

• -consumers are greater in number, heterogeneous, diffused interest

Some Groups More Equal than Others

• E. E. Schattschneider has a view similar to Olson's (The Semi-Sovereign People, 1960).

• Organized groups are not equally representative of all interests in society• 1. business groups predominate

• Gives group politics a strong upper class bias• “The flaw in the pluralist heaven is that the heavenly chorus sings

with a strong upper class accent”• This suggests that we cannot count on groups to balance each

other out• 1. in private disputes, business interests will prevail• 2. the disorganized, poorly organized will usually lose

• Government's role is to help restore the balance • 1. government is place where private interests do not always

prevail• 2. place where losers in private battles seek redress• 3. counter-acts some of the upper class bias of group politics

Beyond Iron Triangles

• Scholars suggest that there are more actors involved now who upset the coziness of the triangle

• 1. iron rectangles -- now federal courts get into the act• -often represent less powerful interests

• 2. issue networks -- broader participation• acknowledges that other interest groups have formed to try

to offset the producer interests• -PIRGs• -environmental groups• -consumer groups• Media: harder to keep decisions within the small group