Interest Groups

Question 1

What are interest groups?

Answer 1

any group other than a political party that is organized to influence the government

Question 2

What do Interest Groups Do? it’s different from what ?

Answer 2

aim to influence the government rather than gain positions of power within it (different from political parties)

Question 3

Is unity within the business community is rare.

Answer 3

Yes

Question 3

Most interest groups in the United States represent _____?

Answer 3

business

Question 4

Industry lobbyists often compete on _____

Answer 4

policy issues

Question 4

What is lobbying ?

Answer 4

influencing public officials directly or through pressure, often targeting Congress, the White House, or bureaucratic agencies.

Question 5

What is inside lobbying?

Answer 5

involves direct contact with policymakers, such as testifying at hearings or contributing to fundraisers.

Question 6

Where does opposition to development projects come from ?

Answer 6

environmental organizations, existing businesses, and other interest groups, leading to competition for lawmaker attention.

Question 7

What do Interest groups use to promote their agendas ?

Answer 7

the courts

Question 8

What is outside lobbying?

Answer 8

seek to mobilize constituents and others outside the policy-making community to contact or pressure policymakers by letter-writing campaigns, advertisements, and protests.

Question 9

Which type of lobbying is less effective for targeting bureaucratic agencies due to their lack of electoral accountability ?

Answer 9

outside lobbying

Question 10

Campaign donations by interest groups are regulated by acts of Congress and what Supreme Court decisions ?

Answer 10

• Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (ruled that corporations and unions can spend unlimited amounts of money on political campaigns)

Question 11

Legislators tend to grant more access to what two types of groups ?

Answer 11

1. Groups that represent their constituents
2. Groups that contribute to their campaigns

Question 12

what is Campaign financing ?

Answer 12

giving money to politicians to influence their decisions.

Question 13

What type of collective dilemma are Campaign Contributions ?

Answer 13

• Prisoner’s dilemma
• Collective Action Problem: Despite recognizing the benefits of the group’s success, individuals may hesitate to contribute due to the belief that their contribution won’t significantly impact the outcome. (thus free-riding)

Question 13

What is Latent Interest ?

Answer 13

A concern shared by a group of people on which they have not yet chosen to act collectively

Question 14

What is a by-product ?

Answer 14

political activity conducted by groups whose principle organizational purpose it the pursuit of some nonpolitical goal

Question 15

Interest groups tend to be successful in organizing when they ?

Answer 15

1. exist primarily for reasons other than political influence
2. when they have methods to combat free riding.

Question 16

What is Selective Incentive ?

Answer 16

benefit that a group can offer to potential members in exchange for participation as a way to encourage that involvement.

Question 17

Interest groups can rely on _____?.

Answer 17

entrepreneurs

Question 18

What is a Special Donor ?

Answer 18

potential participant for whom the cost of participating is very low and/or the benefits of participating are very high.

can make significant political contribution

Question 19

Groups with Similar Interests face what problems ?

Answer 19

Coordination Problems

Question 20

Are Coordination problems unique to interest groups ?

Answer 20

no

Question 21

are social movements formal organizations ?

Answer 21

no

Question 22

what are social movements ?

Answer 22

loose coalition of groups and organizations with common goals that are oriented toward using mass action to influence the government.

Question 23

Social movements are what side’s tendency ?

Answer 23

Leftist tendency

Question 24

Why do some social movements succeed in mobilizing people while others fail?

Answer 24

Succeed when they overcome collective action problems and establish groups and organizations that can be knit together (resource
mobilization)

Question 25

do Interest groups serve as crucial sources of information for policymakers and often play pivotal roles in legislative processes ?

Answer 25

yes

Question 26

What do Pluralist scholars, led by Robert Dahl, argue ?

Answer 26

that power is decentralized among various interest groups, rather than concentrated in one.

Question 27

When facing pressure from conflicting interest, Policymakers tend to do what ?

Answer 27

align their decisions with public opinion in their districts or their party’s positions

Question 28

Interest Groups In Comparison

Answer 28

US has more active and numerous interest groups than other democracies do and Laws in other countries restrict kinds of lobbying

Question 28

What groups demonstrate the influence of well-organized efforts in elections ?

Answer 28

AIPAC and the NRA

Question 29

_____ drive group influence on policymakers, emphasizing their potential impact on elections.

Answer 29

Electoral connections

Question 30

What do Page & Gilens say ?

Answer 30

• Rich people are more likely to get their preferred policies. (tilt to republican)
• vast majority of campaign contributions are private and come from a tiny, extremely wealthy fraction
• U.S. officials are dependent on private money, and this money affects who gets elected

Question 31

What is the primary distinction between an interest group and a political party?
A. Interest groups do not seek positions of power in government; political parties do.
B. Interest groups operate at the national level; while political parties are organized at the state level
C. Interest groups are smaller than political parties
D. Interest groups are focused on individual issues; political parties are interested in large sets of issues
E. Interest groups are larger than political parties

Answer 31

A. Interest groups do not seek positions of power in government; political parties do.

Question 32

The resonance mobilization perspective suggests that a social movement’s success or failure hinges on its ability to ______.
A. Provide high-quality selective incentives
B. Recruit talented political entrepreneurs
C. Activate latent interests
D. Connect preexisting established groups into a broader movement
E. Overcome free riding

Answer 32

D. Connect preexisting established groups into a broader movement

Question 33

Which dilemma is evident in the difficulties that arise in enticing individuals who may benefit from an interest group’s work to provide financial support for that organization?
A. Coordination problem
B. Prisoner’s dilemma
C. Principal-agent problem
D. Unstable coalitions
E. Collective action problem

Answer 33

E. Collective action problem

Question 34

Human Rights Campaign, which lobbies for the rights of gays and lesbians, sends bumper stickers to individuals who provide financial support to the organization. These bumper stickers are an example of _______.
A. A solidarity incentive
B. A public good
C. A selective incentive
D. A by-product
E. Insider lobbying

Answer 34

C. A selective incentive

Question 35

A pharmaceutical company wants to convince the Food and Drug Administration, a federal bureaucratic agency, to relax regulations governing the amount of time it takes to move a drug through clinical trials. The company is most likely to succeed if it uses _____ lobbying tactics to influence _____ because _____.
A. Outside; the courts; justices are often heavily influenced by the content of amicus curiae briefs
B. Outside; bureaucrats; individuals working for bureaucracies can be influenced by their membership in interest groups
C. Inside; Congress; congressional hearings can draw attention to the issue and put it on legislative agendas
D. Inside; the president; he or she can change the institutional rules of any executive office agency
E. Inside; bureaucrats; interest groups often already have ongoing cooperating relationships with agendas

Answer 35

E. Inside; bureaucrats; interest groups often already have ongoing cooperating relationships with agendas