Magruder’s American Government
1st Edition
ISBN: 9780133306996
Textbook solutions
All Solutions
Section 10-7: Understanding Interest Groups
Exercise 1
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**Interest groups** bring together people who share views on a topic and who want to jointly nominate their views in public and try to shape public opinion in the direction of their opinion.
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Furthermore, interest groups can influence legislators to enact new or amend existing laws in relation to a topic of interest to them.
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The first step of interest groups is usually to influence public opinion, and if they gain it, the next step is to use public support to directly influence lawmakers.
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This process in which interest groups try to influence legislation through some issue or a bill is called **lobbying.**
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If the members of the interest groups meet in person with the representatives of the legislature and during those meetings express their views on a some issue, it is called **direct lobbying.**
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Another example of direct lobbying is testifying before congress committees. Committees very often hear the opinions of various interest groups on some issue, in order to provide as much useful information as possible before passing a law. Interest groups can provide extremely useful reports, data, analyzes, etc. on a topic that is important to them.
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In addition to these, there is also **indirect lobbying**. This is for example the inclusion of grassroots campaigning – when members of interest groups write letters and emails to members of Congress. Another way could be to use private contacts and socialize with members of Congress. Also, interest groups can carry out propaganda through the media, by publishing certain reports, newspaper articles, etc.
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**Interest groups** are groups of people that try to influence policies based on their beliefs and interest. **Legislation** is the procedure of creating and enacting laws.
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**Lobbying** is when an interest group tries to influence the outcome and the content of policies. It happens when, for example, an interest group meets with legislators to discuss particular issues. Therefore, interest groups try to lobby the legislation by presenting something in a way that is inviting for the legislators.
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In simple words, interest groups do not make the policies but try to influence the policymakers based on their interest. Interest groups also tend to donate and contribute to political campaigns for a similar or same cause and, in that way, affect the policies.
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Influencing legislation is not the only thing interest groups are active in doing. They try to win over the public opinion, participate in campaigns, and all other actions they believe can contribute to their interest.
Exercise 2
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**Interest groups and political parties** differ in terms of organization, goals, agenda, but also share some basic characteristics – both consist of people who join an organization to achieve some political goals.
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Both, political parties and interest groups are trying to influence the outcomes of elections and legislative process. They are organizations of people who have certain political opinions and want to influence public policy.
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They are different in their agenda and activities. **Political parties** are officially active in the political system – they run for elections and aim to take as much control over the government as possible.
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**Interest groups** are usually citizens who join together. They don’t run for elections but rather try to influence politics based on their interest. They are goal-oriented and not necessarily oriented on political activity. While political parties directly and actively participate in politics, outside of being goal-oriented as well (goal in this context means the interest and beliefs).
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To conclude, both are oriented toward achieving political goals. So, both try to influence policies and the outcome of elections. It can be said both have different roles for the same cause.
Exercise 3
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**American people benefit from public-interest groups** because the interest groups are, just like people, driven to achieve policies and other goals in politics. So what makes public-interest groups meaningful for people is that the groups push to achieve the goals that are aligned with the public interest. The interest groups are responsible for better conditions in society because they contribute to popular sovereignty.
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What makes the public-interest groups useful is their way of participating in politics. They vocalize particular issues and desired goals that, in turn, can influence the political system. They offer space for individuals who don’t necessarily want to participate in professional politics but would still like to contribute for interest.
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What also makes the groups great is that they are unified and bonded by the similar interest that can positively affect the public. By completing their role, they also keep the system in check because if something is done wrong by the government, they will report on the issue and give useful insight.
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Public-interest groups are organizations of people who have a common position on an issue and want to achieve influence on the public and the government in relation to certain common interests. For these reasons, public-interest groups are very important and their work can bring many benefits.
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Some of the most important are the following:
– Attracting public attention to a particular issue
– Connecting people who share some interest and are located in different geographical areas
– Providing useful information on a specific topic for public and government
– Enabling political participation of citizens who are not otherwise interested in membership in political parties and candidacy for public office
– By monitoring the actions of the government on some issue, they enable additional checks-and-balances mechanism of the government
– They limit each other in order to prevent the excessive influence of certain interest groups
Exercise 4
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Even though interest groups can influence the government directly, a large-scale protest march would be an attempt to influence, for example, the content of a particular policy or regulation.
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So, it can be said that a **protest march is instead effectively indirectly influencing politics**.
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Interest groups influence the government in a direct and indirect way.
The direct way implies direct contacts with government representatives, while the indirect way implies communication through intermediaries.
The direct way implies direct contacts with government representatives, while the indirect way implies communication through intermediaries.
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For these reasons, we can conclude that the organization of the march by lobbyists is not an example of direct lobbying, but on the contrary, indirect.
Exercise 5
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Every action that is trying to influence the viewpoints that will than help bring change to the outcome of political matter is considered indirect lobbying. Direct lobbying is made of meetings where the information can be directly presented to the legislators. Therefore, when Sierra Club sends E-mails to the government regarding water conservation issues, they are simply trying to get the government’s attention so it can hopefully make a change.
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With this being said, it is clear that the **e-mail is an indirect type of lobbying**, which can be very useful because it might influence the government to act on the issue, recommendation, or request.
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The case described is an example of **indirect lobbying**. If the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club had a meeting with government officials, it would be an example of direct lobbying. Given that in the hypothetical case described, they nevertheless decided to send emails to the government on behalf of their members, this is an example of an indirect approach.
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Although the direct approach is generally more effective, we cannot ignore the potential of indirect pressure. Government representatives pay attention and react to emails from interest groups because they know that if they do not, the interest groups can seek a more direct and aggressive approach.
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