Chapter 7

INTEREST GROUPS AND CORPORATIONS

Lobbying For China

The President makes a decision each year about the most favored nation (MFN) status of a particular nation, which Congress can override by a two-thirds vote.

Certain nations must seek most favored status to avoid extremely high tariffs and other restrictions on their products.

While Presidential determination about China’s trade status prevailed for the past 16 years, the debate in Congress has intensified.

President Clinton succeeded in the face of the political coalition that developed in 1997 to oppose granting MFN to China.

The determination of trade policy toward China is similar to how many federal government policies are determined.

The opening vignette in the text illustrates the importance of interest groups and corporations in shaping what government does in the United States.

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.

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

Many political scientists believe that interest groups serve as important instruments to attain democracy and serve the public interest.

Pluralists believe the interest group system is democratic because people are free to join or to organize groups that reflect their own interests.

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 game in 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.

Disturbance Theory of Interest Group Formation

The proliferation of interests does not seem to lead to the formation of groups unless these interests are threatened in some way.

The disturbance theory is illustrated by the success of the Christian Coalition which was created at a time when many evangelical Christians felt threatened by family breakdown, an increase in the number of abortions, and the sexual revolution.

Incentives

Some social scientists argue that people do not form groups when their common interests are threatened unless the group can give back some selective, material benefit to them.

A selective, material benefit is a tangible benefit that is available to members but not to nonmembers.

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

Public Interest Groups

Public interest groups are sometimes called citizens’ groups.

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

There has been substantial growth in the number and influence of public interest groups since the late 1960s.

Public-interest groups generally do not use material incentives.

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

Access inequality Capture Interest group liberalism Iron triangles, or subgovernments Issue networks

The Special Place of 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

Curing the Mischief of Factions

James Madison was thinking primarily about the tyranny of majority factions when he referred to the “mischief of factions.”

We now know that the politics of faction is usually the province of narrow and privileged interests rather than majorities.

This creates problems with respect to democracy.

Tools used to solve some of the problems of factions Disclosure 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.