chapter 7 interest groups and corporations pearson education, inc. © 2005

Chapter 7

INTEREST GROUPS AND CORPORATIONS

Pearson Education, Inc. © 2005

Pearson Education, Inc © 2005

The Energy Industry Pushes an Energy Bill

2000 election: The energy industry contributed $67 million to congressional candidates and political parties, 75% of that going to Republican.

2001: Vice President Richard Cheney secretly met with energy industry representatives.

The proposed energy bill gave massive tax breaks and subsidies to energy companies, and repealed an important energy consumer-protection law.


The Energy Industry Pushes an Energy Bill

2002 election: The energy industry contributed $58 million, 73% of that going to Republicans.

The energy industry also launched a massive lobbying campaign to pressure members of Congress to support the bill.

Ultimately, however, the bill failed due to the massive cost of the program and Democratic opposition.


Interest Groups in a Democratic Society

Roles of interest groups Interest groups are private organizations

that try to shape public policy. Interest groups try to influence the behavior

of political decision makers. Also known as pressure groups or lobbies


The Evils of Factions

The American public has traditionally viewed special-interest groups as narrowly self-interested.

James Madison warned of the dangers and divisiveness of factions (his term for interest groups) in The Federalist, No. 10.

The theme of the evils of factions has recurred throughout American history.


Interest Group Democracy: The Pluralist Argument

Pluralist political scientists believe that interest groups are important instruments in a democracy, and serve the public interest. Interest groups convey public desires to government

officials better than do elections. People are free to join or to organize groups that reflect

their own interests. Because power is dispersed in the American political

system, there are many openings for diverse groups to have their interests heard.

Due to the ease of group formation and the accessibility of government, all legitimate interest groups can have their views heard.


Interest Group Formation

Escalation in the number of interest groups Interest groups formation tied to the

existence of certain structural factors When there are many interests When the political culture supports the pursuit of

private interests Diversity of interests in the United States


Rules of the political gamein the United States encourage the formation of interest groups.

The First Amendment guarantees citizens basic rights that are essential to the ability of citizens to form organizations.

Government is organized in such a way that decision makers are relatively accessible to interest groups.

Because of federalism, checks and balances, and the separation of powers, there is no dominant center of decision making.


Interest Group Formation and the Growth in Government

As government takes on more responsibilities, it has a greater impact on facets of economic, social, and personal life.

People, groups, and organizations are increasingly affected by the actions of government.

When new government agencies are established, new interest groups emerge. Department of Homeland Security


Disturbance Theory of Interest Group Formation

Groups tend to form only when people feel that their interests are being threatened.

E.g., the Christian Coalition was created when many evangelical Christians began to feel threatened by family breakdown, an increase in the number of abortions, and the sexual revolution, and the growing voices of gays and lesbians.


Incentives

Some social scientists argue that even when people feel threatened, they will form groups only if doing so provides them with a selective, material benefit.

If someone can get the benefit without joining the group (known as a free-rider), then there may be no purpose in joining.

The free-rider problem tends to occur when a group is interested in some collective good that benefits everyone and not just members.

There has been a proliferation of public interest and ideological groups, which suggests purposes or incentives other than material and selective incentives.


What Interests Are Represented

Interest groups may be classified by the type of interest they represent. Public interests are interests that are

connected in one way or another to the general welfare of the community.

Private interests are associated with benefits for some fraction of the community.


Private Interest Groups

Business

The Professions

Labor

Racial, Ethnic, and Gender Organizations


Public Interest Groups

Are also known as citizens’ groups

Try to get government to do things that will benefit the general public rather than the direct material interests of their own members

Tend to be supported by people due to ideological concerns or belief in a cause, rather than material incentives

Have grown substantially in number and influence since the late 1960s


What Interest Groups Do

Interest groups are composed of people with common goals or interests who try to convey the views of some sector of society and to influence government on their behalf.

There are two basic types of interest group activity: the inside game and the outside game.


The Inside Game

The inside game involves direct contact of the interest group representative and government officials. The politics of insiders, of the old-boy network, of

one-on-one persuasion in which a skilled lobbyist tries to persuade a decision maker to accept the point of view of the interest group

Lobbying Congress Lobbying the executive branch Lobbying the courts


The Outside Game

The outside game is an indirect form of influence that involves interest group efforts to mobilize public opinion, voters, and important contributors. Evidence of increased importance compared to

“inside” lobbying (though inside lobbying still tends to be more directly effective)

Mobilizing membership Organizing the district Shaping public opinion Involvement in campaigns and elections


Possible Flaws in the Pluralist Heaven

Representational inequalities Resource inequalities

political action committees (PACs) soft money independent expenditures Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (2002)

stipulations: limits on soft money contributions consequences: enhanced role of PACs, “527’s”

public interest group use of “bundling”


Possible Flaws in the Pluralist Heaven

Access inequality Subgovernments Capture Interest group liberalism Iron triangles Issue networks


The Special Place of Business Corporations

Scholars have found that corporations dominate other interest groups in the policy process. number of interest organizations number of lobbyists level of resources shaping public perceptions traditionally held in high regard, and viewed as linked to

healthy economy mobility

Nonetheless, corporate power waxes and wanes within its overall privileged position. corporations are most powerful in good economic times, and

when they build alliances among themselves


Curing the Mischief of Factions

Disclosure Federal Regulation of Lobbying Act (1946) Lobby Disclosure Act (1995)

Regulation Ethics in Government Act (1978)

Control McCain-Feingold bill (2002)


Interest Groups, Corporations, and Democracy

Many worry that these reforms do not get to the heart of the problem.

Some political scientists have suggested that we focus our efforts on strengthening institutions of majoritarian democracy such as political parties, the presidency, and Congress.

Efforts to reform the interest group system may be frustrated by the inescapable fact that highly unequal resources eventually will find their way into our political life.

chapter 7 interest groups and corporations pearson education, inc. © 2005

Documents

pressure groups

diverse groups

energy companies

corporationspearson

lobbiespearson education

proposed energy bill

energy bill2000 election

energy bill2002 election