Special Interest
Shavonne Holman
Professor Steven Holeman, Sr.
POL110
March 2, 2013

Define an interest group, with examples.
An interest group is an organization whose members share common concerns and try to influence government policies affecting these concerns. Interest groups are also known as lobbies; lobbying is one of the ways interest groups shape legislation and bring the views of their constituents to the attention of decision-makers. A great example of an interest group would be The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) which has about 32 million members.

Interest groups are organizations that seek to influence the decisions of government. According to Truman, interest groups can be defined as groups that, based on one or more shared attitudes, engage in influencing political decision-making, in order to successfully implement certain political goals or values (Truman, 1993). They usually, but not always, are formally organized. The relation between interest groups and government and society is an affirmative one, although groups may at times employ destructive methods in order to accomplish their goals. The existing social order is accepted by interest groups, and governmental power and its institutions are utilized to attain advantages, protect members and to fight political opponents (Truman, 1993).

Two kinds of organizations: Institutional Interest and Membership Interest. Institutional Interest are individuals or organizations representing other organizations i.e. business firms, local governments, foundations and universities (Wilson, 2012). A prime example of an institutional interest group would be the U.S. Chamber of Commerce which represents the multitude of wants of American businesses. Membership organizations rely on their stated purpose as incentive, especially deeply controversial purposes. They tend to be shaped by the mood of the times and they devote a lot of attention to getting publicity by developing good contacts with the media (Wilson, 2012). A prime example of a membership interest group would be National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) which represents African-American interests.

The following are examples of interest groups from Cliffnotes.com. Economic Interest Groups: Economic interest groups include organizations that represent big business, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM).
Public Interest Groups: Public interest groups do not usually expect to profit directly from the policy changes they seek. However, the activists who staff these groups gain financially by attracting donations from individuals and foundations who support their activities. As the name implies, public interest groups enjoy an image of non-partisanship. These groups also usually receive disproportionately positive news coverage, even when there is serious disagreement over their policy proposals. A large number of consumer advocacy groups and environmental organizations, such as the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), fall into this category (Cliffnotes, 2013).
Government Interest Groups: Government interest groups include the National League of Cities, the National Conference of Mayors, and the National Governors Association. One critical task performed by these groups is to help state and local governments get federal grants (Cliffnotes, 2013)..
Religious Interest Groups: The separation of church and state does not preclude religious interest groups from lobbying; indeed, it is safe to say that all religious groups are involved in politics to some degree. The Christian Coalition, which draws most of its support from conservative Protestants, has an agenda that includes support for school prayer, opposition to homosexual rights, and a constitutional amendment banning abortion. It became an important factor in American politics, particularly in the Republican party, in the early 1990s (Cliffnotes, 2013).
Civil Rights Interest Groups: The NAACP, the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF), the National Organization for Women (NOW), and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force represent groups that historically have faced legal discrimination and in many respects, continue to lack equal opportunity. Their concerns involve more than civil rights, however, and encompass social welfare, immigration policy, affirmative action, a variety of gender issues, and political action (Cliffnotes, 2013).
Ideological Interest Groups: Ideological interest groups view all issues i.e. federal spending, taxes, foreign affairs, court appointments, and so forth through the lens of their political ideology, typically liberal or conservative. Their supports for legislation or policy depends exclusively on whether they find it ideologically sound (Cliffnotes, 2013).

Interest groups use political action committees (PACs) to raise and donate large sums of money to political parties and candidates. The Federal Election Campaign Act as amended in 1974 allows PACs to donate more money than individuals, which stimulated the creation of PACs. PACs can exist without an interest group as well and are used simply to raise and distribute money to promote ideological policies or candidates. The amount of money raised and spent by PACs to support candidates has raised concerns that they may have an unfair impact on elections. Corporate PACs generally spend the most money.

Discuss the relationship between interest groups and political parties.
Political party is defined as a group that seeks to elect candidates to public office by supplying them with a label by which are known to the electorate (Brunell, 2005). Interest groups are policy maximizers, while political parties are focused on maximizing the number of seats they win in Congress. These competing goals have important implications for the relationship between interest groups and parties (Brunell, 2005).

The ongoing competition between political parties and interest groups is one of the epic struggles of American politics. Political parties strive to craft platforms that will draw the support of majorities of voters, while interest groups pressure the government to enact policies that advance the substantive agendas or ideological perspectives of narrower constituencies. In negotiating these tensions, parties and groups may work cooperatively or they may find themselves at cross-purposes.

Political parties and interest groups are linked to one another for at least four reasons. First, parties and groups co-evolve with one another. Parties and groups have grown, declined, and changed form in response to one another. Second, parties and groups have attempted to discipline each other. Groups weigh into the electoral process to influence which kinds of candidates represent parties. Parties’ pressure groups to become the kinds of organizations that naturally support a party’s cause. Third, interest groups and parties are key brokers within one another’s networks and between other factors in the policy process. Interest groups may serve to bring factors in competing parties together or drive them apart. Parties may help to put some interest groups into key positions of influence or exclude others from decision making. Parties and groups cooperate and compete to intervene between citizens and lawmakers. Fourth, parties and groups serve to fashion interlinked political identities for individuals and organizations (Maisel, 2009).

Explain how interest groups try to influence the president and Congress as these two branches work together to make policy.
The government virtually calls many interest groups into life, for they are intimately associated with government programs. There are farm lobbies because there are farm programs, education lobbies because there are education programs, and veterans’ lobbies because the government goes to war. Once government is funding something, the groups that benefit develop constituencies with a strong pecuniary interest in continuing the programs. As government has become bigger and sponsored more programs, interest groups have proliferated. By now, virtually every branch and subdivision of the U.S. government has one or more interest groups watching over its shoulder and demanding more grants, a change in regulations, or their own agency (Cliffnotes, 2013).

Interest groups not only report developments or trends but also try to influence them in a manner that benefits their members or the cause that they are supporting. This persuasion is accomplished through lobbying, grass-roots campaigns, political action committees, and litigation. Lobbying efforts are directed primarily at the national level: committees of Congress that consider legislation, administrative agencies that are responsible for writing or enforcing regulations, and executive departments. Lobbyists depend on their personal relationships with members of Congress and the executive branch, which are based on keeping in regular contact. Many lobbyists have served in high positions of government themselves. This means they have worked, in most cases for years, with the exact same people they are lobbying; this experience gives them invaluable insights into how things are accomplished in Washington. It makes it easier for them to persuade these individuals (Cliffnotes, 2013).

The critical legislative work in Congress takes place in committees. Lobbyist are sophisticated professionals and do not simply say to senators, "Vote for this bill or else," but instead explain why the bill is important to their constituency as well as what impact it will have in the senator's state. A lobbyist may have a politically connected member of the interest group contact the senator. One of the criticisms of lobbyists is that they have too much of a direct role, based on their relationships with government officials, in how laws are written and implemented. The term iron triangle (also known as a cozy triangle) describes the ties between congressional committees, administrative agencies whose funding is set by the committees, and the lobbyists who work closely with both. Few policy areas are still governed by tightly knit sub governments, however. Policy in areas such as telecommunications and banking generally emerges from much more complex issue networks involving diverse players who are united by their expertise in the area (Cliffnotes, 2013).

In 2010 for example, Americans were spectators to two highly political back-to-back lobbying wars, the first over healthcare, and the second over finance. The healthcare lobby alone had more than 3,300 registered lobbyists many of them former staffers or Congress personnel in Washington and dished out millions to elected officials of both parties. Their goal was simply to ensure nothing in the legislation limited the incomes of private insurers, pharmaceutical companies, doctors, or hospitals. The finance lobby was not far behind. This goal was to ensure no regulatory reforms hurt the ability of banks and investment houses to make lots of money.

In conclusion interest groups play many different roles in the political system. Representation is the function that we see the most and the function we automatically think of when we think of interest groups. Interest groups also educate, by trying to inform both public officials and the public at large about matters of importance to them. The system is designed so that interest groups can be an instrument of public influence on politics to create changes not to be a threat to the government. Whether this is still the case or not is an important question that we as the people must track and find the answer to.

References

CliffsNotes.com. Functions of Interest Groups. 2 Mar 2013
<http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/topicArticleId-65383,articleId-65532.html>.
CliffsNotes.com. Tactics of Interest Groups. 2 Mar 2013
<http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/topicArticleId-65383,articleId-65533.html>.
CliffsNotes.com. Types of Interest Groups. 2 Mar 2013
<http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/topicArticleId-65383,articleId-65531.html>.
Hanley, M. T., & Maisel S. (2009) “Linking Parties and Interest Groups” 8 Jul 2009
<http://www.utdallas.edu/~tbrunell/papers/interestgroups_PRQ.pdf>
Brunell, T. L. “The Relationship Between Political Parties and Interest Groups.” Political Research Quarterly, Vol., 58, No. 4. Dallas, TX 2005. 681-689
<http://www.utdallas.edu/~tbrunell/papers/interestgroups_PRQ.pdf>
Truman, D. B., The Governmental Process, Political Interests & Public Opinion, 2nd ed., (Berkley: Institute of Governmental Studies, University of CA), 1971, reprinted 1993.
Wilson, James . "Kinds of Organizations." American Government. 9th ed. Mason, Ohio: Cenage Learning, 2009. 143-146. Print.