The Interest Group Society Summary

A part of the “darker side” of Washington is considered by the American public as interest groups. Even James Madison described them in the federalist papers he wrote in 1787 as “factions” that could be dangerous. The modern day hasn’t changed much. People today largely agree with Madison in how they view interest groups. What interest groups do, how they are supported, and what their stances are an interesting mix of controversy, clash, and representation.

In a pluralist democracy like in the United States, interest groups have played a major role throughout the history through highly organized factions and are aimed at different levels of government. Lobbying is one of the tactics of the interest groups to aid their agenda through implementing new laws and regulations. "If you want to have your face in the light, you should have your back in the dark". Similarly, the influences of the interests groups and lobbyists have good and bad effects on the people and the society.

Moreover, the Schoolhouse Rock presentation identified the major committees that play a vast role within legislation, but furthermore failed to acknowledge the significant influence of interest groups, lobbyist, and campaign contributors. Interest groups are pertinent to the legislation process because of their vast influence. While interest groups strive to “influence public policy” to benefit its members, it accomplishes this task by using inside strategies that “pursue a narrow policy of change and directly influence legislation” and through its relationship within the iron triangle that works to “seal off” external influencers that are irrelevant to the groups view towards public policy; thus leaving a “closed

The United States has experienced fundamental changes that are dramatically detrimental to democracy. Voters’ ability to define political discourse has been so diminished that even decisive election results like Barack Obama’s in 2012 have little impact. That’s because powerful interests — freed to, in effect, buy elections, unhindered by downsized and diffused media that must rely on revenue from campaign ads — now set the rules of engagement. Lobbying involves working to bring pressure to bear on policy makers to gain favorable policy outcomes. In order to accomplish their goals, interest groups develop a strategy or plan of action and execute it through specific tactics. The particular strategies developed and the specific tactics used, however, vary widely both among and within political

Limiting interest group is like cutting off the blood that flows through America’s vein. Interest groups plays a pivotal role in todays U.S society ranging from but not limited to; helping Congress and the administration to draft legislation and policy initiatives, provide information both to government and the public on a broad range of topical issues, and contribute significantly to political

government assistance. The difference between interest groups and political parties is that political parties seek to constitute the government, whereas interest groups try only to influence it. Some of the things that interests groups seek from government are

A well developed democratic state in my perspective is focused on the representation of each and everyone of the constituents in the land. This means that perhaps it takes longer to implement new ideas on a national level, but ensures that all of the individuals are accounted for. An institution design of a large populated state will require a well established regime and a government that can correctly represent of all the constituents, rather than be controlled by the voice of the majority. It will be a government that allows for the minorities and majorities to have the same opportunity for their voice to be heard rather than only the people wealthy enough to have power. This representation of the minorities will be at the cost of efficiency.

An interest group also known as a special interest group or a lobby is an organized group of individuals, organizations, or businesses who share a goal. The interest group forms an alliance in support of their cause to influence public policy and government officials in the group 's favor. The goal of the group could be focused on small group, such as the Japan Eraser Manufacturer 's Association; or the goal could be focused on a large public group, such as family and friends of public school-aged children in the United States. "The most important lobbying forces in any society are the various entities of government: national, regional, and local government agencies and institutions such as the military" (Thomas).???????????

“Interest groups are no less a threat than they are an expression of freedom” (Berry, 1984).

One key debate among the authors is what is actually influenced by lawmaking. On one hand, Hansen (1991) takes the perspective that lobbying influences the relationship between interest groups and lawmakers. Hansen bases his argument on the belief that because legislators want to be reelected and they lack information about the “issue preferences of their constituents, the salience of issues to their constituents, and the effectiveness of various policy options,” they will seek information to reduce this uncertainty. The service that interest groups provide the, is this information. Certain interest groups, Hansen argues have “competitive advantage,” (p. 13) in the sense that they can provide certainty about constituent beliefs in an efficient and effective manner, in order to help lawmakers get reelected. Given that elections re-occur, an additional point Hansen makes is for interest groups to have some kind of influence over lawmakers, the conditions that provide this competitive advantage must be expected to recur. When these conditions are met, interest groups

People are important for the success of democracy. After electing their representatives, some individuals wish to be more involved in legislative decisions that affect them, so they take to lobbying and joining interest groups. This often provides them with an atmosphere of individuals who think like they do, while also allowing them to play more of a role than just voting for a few people to represent them. Lobbying and interest groups also allow for issues to be brought to the attention of the legislature and provide a way for these groups to talk to the legislators, whether it is over dinner or at a concert. By voicing their opinions and placing pressures on the legislation, these groups have become successful in fighting for their passions and their views on important

The Environmental Defense Fund boasts an impressive membership of over 1.5 million individuals, making them one of the largest environmental interest groups in the world in terms of membership. While membership is technically ‘free’ for the organization, in order to become a member, you must first enter your contact and credit card information and select a voluntary ‘gift’ amount. While “other” is an option for the gift amount, in which one can enter $0, it is evident that the organization strongly encourages contributions and would greatly prefer monthly or annual ‘gifts’ is possible. Overall, the process of becoming a member is fairly straight forward, the only necessary steps to join is to enter one’s contact and

Interest Group Strategies If I were to start an interest group, specifically, if I were to start the National Organization of Collegiate American Students Needing Help (NOCASH), I would want to find out who else feels the same or similarly. Then I’d want to see how I could get more members and keep them around. After that, it would be about putting into action what we want to see changed.

Interest Groups There are thousands of interest groups all over the world. All of them ranging from different belief systems, strong subject matters, personal opinions, and more. Amazing individuals find something that they are passionate about, and they start a group with other people who are also passionate about the same thing. These groups normally form because something they care about is being threaten, or because something is happening that they don’t agree with. So then interest groups began and the individuals come together to have one voice and speak out their opinion. However, starting one up on your own and getting people to join could present a challenge.

Interest groups and advocacy groups have an undeniably strong influence in Washington, and while the results of lobbying efforts are not often touted, they sway policy in areas like energy, housing, public finance, education, gun control and many more. These interest groups may represent parochial interests, but there is surely an area of policy that matches most splintered-off factions. While they’ve been portrayed as shadowy forces in lawmaking, “Interest Group Influence on US Policy Change: An Assessment Based on Policy History” by Matt Grossmann attempts to quantify and