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GOVT 2305
Interests Groups
In this section one of the driving forces of politics.
Interest Groups
What is an Interest Group?
“any association of individuals or organizations, usually formally
organized, that, on the basis of one or more shared concerns, attempts
to influence public policy in its favor.” - Britannica
They are similar to political parties since they attempt to influence
what governing institutions do, but while parties compete in elections,
interests groups do not.
They tend to focus very narrowly on a specific issue, or on the needs
of a specific group.
Environmental groups, for example, focus on the
environment.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce focuses on the need of American
businesses.
They do so by working with members of the different branches
to pursue their aims.
The relationships they establish with people are often based on electoral support. Interest groups get heavily
involved in funding the campaigns in order to make these connections.
There are various ways this can be done. A common way is for these
groups to form political action committees (PACs). Recent changes in electoral laws
have allowed for the development of Super PACs.
Contributions to political campaigns may not guarantee a seat at the table, but it helps. An interest group may threaten to fund an opponents otherwise.
These are the relationships they attempt to develop.
The Legislature
Interest groups try to gain influence with the
standing committees that have jurisdiction over the legislation of
interest to the. Example: The energy sector is interested in having close connections with
members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee
.
Donations to leaders of the House and Senate can help expedite
legislation being heard on the floor of either chamber.
The Executive
Donations to presidential candidates can influence who gets appointed to head executive agencies. The ideal
situation for interest groups is for their members to be appointed to these
agencies. This allows then to regulate themselves.
This is called agency capture, or regulatory capture.
In addition, interest groups try to develop relationships with lower
level people in the executive branch in order to influence the
rulemaking process. These are the agencies create in order to clarify how laws are to be implemented.
The Judiciary
Support for candidates for the presidency and the Senate can allow interest groups influence over who is appointed to the
federal courts and the Supreme Court. Some current members of
the Supreme Court have worked as legal counsel for different interests groups prior to being on the court.
Interest groups can also get involved in Supreme Court cases
by initiating test cases designed to take constitutional challenges to
the court, and by submitting amicus briefs to the court that
present the court with arguments regarding cases they are about to
consider.
Here’s a diagram that attempts to lay out how interest groups
influence government officials.
Notice that the diagram makes repeated mentions of lobbying.
We will discuss lobbying and influence seeking later in this class, but a lobbyist is a person
skilled in getting the attention of members of the proper governmental branch or agency and persuading them to make decisions on behalf of
their client – usually the interest group.
Their major skill is knowing which door to knock on, how to get it
opened, and how to get invited in with to talk with an influential
person like the head of an executive agency and a legislator.
That skill can be worth a lot of money.
People who have experience working in any of the branches
make ideal employees for interest groups and lobbying firms.
The best employees are ex-office holders, especially people who
were once members of Congress.
Others include:
Ex staffers in congressional offices and congressional committees.
Ex employees in executive agencies
Ex clerks of members of the judiciary, especially the Supreme Court.
People who work in these positions gain experience in how
these institutional work and connections with people within
them.
They know how the governing process actually works and can be
valuable to interest groups.
Their experience can lead be lucrative to interest groups
interested in promoting legislation and rules that affect them.
They tend to be worth the money.
Powerful interest groups can help develop networks that establish
relationships with legislative, executive and judicial officials in
order to tighten control over policies that benefit them.
Critics argue that a revolving door exists between people that work in
governmental agencies, congressional offices, and interest
groups.
These are the people that may really run things.
Popular names for these arrangements:
Iron TrianglesIssue Networks
Sub Governments
The most common arrangement is called an iron triangle.
Members include:
Interest GroupsLegislative CommitteesBureaucratic Officials
Perhaps government can be best thought of as hundreds of small
sub-governments that have developed around each of the policies established over time.
If the interest group is strong enough to influence elections to congress and the appointment of
executive officials, they can effectively regulate themselves
Question: Is this corruption?
But this is not popular.
It leads to the impression that interest groups serve special interests whose benefits are
antithetical to those of the general public. They do not promote the
general welfare.
James Madison would agree.
But we are all special interests if you think about it.
Other terms are also used to describe these groups:
Pressure GroupsSpecial Interest Groups
Advocacy Groups
Examples of Interest Groups
National Groups
The AFL- CIOThe National Rifle Association
The American Civil Liberties UnionThe Family Research Council
If there’s an interest, there’s likely a group to represent it.
This does not mean that that interest will be effectively
represented however. Not all interest groups are equally
powerful.
Today’s interest groups are similar to what James Madison called a “faction.” We discussed these
when we discussed Federalist #10.
Madison gave them a definition:
“By a faction, I understand a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or a minority of the whole,
who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adversed to the rights of
other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the
community.”
This could easily define interest groups.
Madison argued that factions develop naturally in free, civilized societies, and they tend to develop around whatever interests exist in society. Contemporary political scientists call these pocketbook
issues because they are material concerns that hit people in the pocketbook.
“A landed interest, a manufacturing interest, a
mercantile interest, a moneyed interest, with many lesser
interests, grow up of necessity in civilized nations, and divide them into different classes, actuated by different sentiments and views.”
People will pursue policies that benefit themselves. And since a democracy is driven by the majority, the laws that
will be passed will be those that benefit whichever group has a
majority in the legislature.
Policies will not necessarily benefit the common good or protect the interests
of the minority.
Madison was concerned that a democratic system allows a majority faction to become
tyrannical since it can control governmental institutions.
Tyranny of the Majority
A minority faction cannot.
He suggested that a great variety of interests should be allowed to compete in the legislature in order to break apart permanent majorities.
He predicted that the large republic which would be established under the Constitution
would guarantee that a large number if issues would not only emerge, but would lead to the development of a large number of factions.
Madison argued that a diverse nation would develop a sufficient
variety of interests that would split majorities into minorities.
It would produce lots of interest groups, and these would break
apart the majority factions.
This is an important point because it reminds us that there is nothing new with the concept of a special
interest.
Furthermore, the constitutional system assumes they will exist and
is designed to encompass and compensate for them.
Madison’s prediction, after all, came true. There are thousands of interest groups around the nation.
But this can create a problem.
Madison warned that minority groups have a negative side:
“[They] may clog the administration, it may convulse the
society; but it will be unable to execute and mask its violence
under the forms of the Constitution.”
A minority can make administration difficult. It can lead
to gridlock.
The author Jonathan Rauch coined the term demoslerosis to refer to
this problem. What is it?
Demoslerosis: The progressive loss of government’s ability to adapt due to interest group pressure.
Interest groups have a tendency to pursue their interests through governing
institutions, and once they are attained, fight to retain those interests. This can
make it difficult for government to innovate and change when necessary.
The political scientist Mancur Olson went further and argued that the rise of special interest
groups can lead to the decline of a nation.
It makes dynamic change less likely to occur.
A common complaint heard about interest groups is that they resist
any innovations that might compromise or undermine their
interests.
This can be problematic for the common good – Madison
understood this.
Example: Do oil companies really want renewable energy to
compete with them?
Do they do what they can to minimize federal support for companies that research and provide alternative energy?
This makes adaptation difficult. Bad policies can sometimes not be
changed because of the political strength of the groups that are
benefitting from them.
Current examples:
SubsidiesPublic Employment
How do interest groups form?
Are all interests in society able to represent themselves well?
Madison’s Mistake
Implying that the existence of an interests in society leads to the
development of a group to represent those interests.
Groups needs catalysts in order to form.
In Federalists #10, Madison seemed to suggest that any
interest that existed would result in the creation of a group that would fight for that interest.
But not all interests are able to do so.
Think about it, which is more powerful, interests groups that
represent the wealthy or the poor?
Interests in society are only effectively represented if there is an organized group that does so.
But what would convince someone to organize such a group? What
incentive exist for someone to do so? What benefits accrue to
people who do so?
This has been a subject of study for political scientists.
In The Logic of Collective Action, Mancur Olson argued that large
groups have disincentives to form because there will be a tendency
for some to free ride.
Modern understandings of interest groups hold that organized groups only form and remain powerful if a
mobilizing force works to form a group and that there is a material interest that convinces people to
join and work for the group’s goals.
Problem: Not all interests are easily converted into groups.
Not every group can easily overcome the free rider problem.
Here’s the basic question presented buy the Free Rider
Problem:
Why work for collectively for a groups’ goals if you will benefit from it even if you don’t do any work? If the benefit
can’t be separated between those who contribute and those who do not.
If you’ve ever tried to organize a group of people you know this.
There is little need to join a group, if you will benefit from the group’s
efforts even if you do not contribute. But if everyone thinks this way, the group will not form,
and its objectives will not be reached.
For a more thorough definitions of the Free Rider Problem: Stanford
In order for a group to be formed, there has to be a driving force
making it happen.
A political entrepreneur has to develop incentives for people to
join the group. They have to convince members to avoid the
temptation to free rider.
Political Entrepreneur
Notable Policy Entrepreneurs:
Richard Mellon ScaifeJames Leininger
This person has to figure out how best to overcome the free rider
problem that prevents individuals that have a common interest from working together to achieve that
interest.
Olson pointed out that these individuals provide selective benefits to individuals
that they would not be able to get if they were not members of the group and did
not participate to further the group’s objectives.
A selective benefit is a reward or punishment that fosters cooperation among a group of people who might
otherwise free ride.
There are four basic types of Selective Incentives
MaterialPurposiveSolidary
Informational
Material
Members are encouraged to join because they will receive material
benefits if they do so. Jobs or business opportunities for
example.
Purposive
Joining the group helps one advance a grand “purpose” such as cleaner air, greater public morality, or some other intangible reward.
Solidary
Joining the group puts one in touch with other, similarly minded
people. Social options increse
Informational
The group makes its members privy to information they cannot
get elsewhere.
An interesting read:Salvation as a Selective Benefit
The strongest groups are those that can provide tangible material
benefits to their members.
This explains why business interest often win out over public interests.
Interest group politics benefits the interest that can be most easily
organized.
Current example: the old are more easily organized than the young.
Here’s a list of the top 25 interest groups from 2001. Note that the
bulk are business and professional organizations. A couple of labor unions are there as well. All are able to offer tangible benefits to
their members that they would not otherwise receive if they were not
members of the group.
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 America
6. AFL-CIO7. Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America
8. National Beer Wholesalers of America9. National Association of Realtors
10. National Association of Manufacturers11. National Association of Homebuilders of the United States
12. American Medical Association13. American Hospital Association
14. National Education Association of the United States15. American Farm Bureau Federation
16. Motion Picture Association of America17. National Association of Broadcasters18. National Right to Life Committee
19. Health Insurance Association of America20. National Restaurant Association21. National Governors' Association
22. Recording Industry Association of America23. American Bankers Association
24. Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America25. International Brotherhood of Teamsters
Very few of these groups promote the public interest.
Other interests – including environmentalism, public
education, public health – are not to be found on the list.
Here’s the irony: Those groups can claim to represent the interests of
more people that the business groups.
Size can create a disadvantage for an interest group. The free rider problem is more pronounced in
larger than smaller groups.
The benefits are more dispersed and it is more difficult to deny them to people who are not
members of the group.
It is more difficult to determine whether someone is actually contributing to the group’s objectives. It is easier to monitor the actions of
500 people than a million people.
Again, for a benefit to work properly it has to be selective, it can only be received by people who have joined and contributed to a group’s effort.
Unions are only strong if they can limit job opportunities to their members. Professional organizations are only strong if they can limit the practice of a trade to people they license.
This helps explain why environmental groups – and public interest groups in general – can be
weak.
If the goal of a groups, for example, is clean air, how can you limit that benefit only to people
who contributed to the group? If the air is cleaner, everyone gets to breath it. The free-
rider problems are obvious.
Access to proper resources help as well.
Wealthy groups can be effective because they can hire experts and
have the ability to persistently pursue their interests.
Anti-poverty groups lack muscle.
Types of Interest Groups
Business GroupsProfessional Organizations
Labor Unions
Examples:
AFL – CIOUnited States Chamber of Commerce
American Bar AssociationAmerican Medical Association
Public Interest Groups
National Rifle AssociationNational Organization for WomenAmerican Association of Retired
PersonsAmerican Civil Liberties Union
Family Research Council
Think tanks are a unique type of group that develops policy
proposals and rationales that can influence political debate
Examples of Think Tanks
American Enterprise InstituteBrookings Institute
Cato InstituteCenter for American Progress
List of Think Tanks
Interest Groups active in Texas
Info from the Texas Tribune.A list from Google.
Notable area groups:
Greater Houston Chamber of Commerce
Metropolitan Organization