Roles Of Interest Groups

Interest groups are a key aspect of American politics in the world today. An interest group is an organization of people with shared policy goals that enter the policy making process at several points to try and influence the policy. The development of interest groups has led to the creation of three theories used to describe them: pluralism, hyperpluralism, and elitism. Pluralism states that interest groups bring representation to all the people. Elitism is when there is an unbalance of power towards certain interest groups. Hyperpluralism states that the government is differential to interests groups and creates conflicting regulations. Hyperpluralists believe that iron triangles greatly influence the policy. Iron triangles are known
The Role of Interest Groups- Explain the difference between a party and an interest group.
a. Parties and interest groups are both important to the political process, however they are not the same exact thing. Parties are involved in the electoral process by running a candidate for public office. Interest groups support a candidate for office, but they don’t run their own candidate. Another difference between the two is parties are general and less specific, but interest groups take a specific stand on a particular policy.
Section 10.2
1. Pluralism- How does interest group activity bring representation to all?
a. Interests groups provide a link between the people and the government. Anyone can form an interest group if they wanted too. There are also so many different groups that one should be able to find one that helps them. Groups are constantly competing to gain a foot in on policy, this is what allows democracy to
Environmental interest groups are newer than the other categories of groups. Environmental groups have influenced policy to control pollution, wildlife protection, and species prevention. They also had a major effect going against some policies like supersonic aircraft and nuclear power plants. They had such an effect on policy, since 1977 when the United States first nuclear accident occurred to 2010, no new nuclear plants were built.
3. Equality Interests- How important are equality interest groups in causing policy change?
a. The most well-known example of equality interest groups are the civil rights interest groups that fought segregation. They caused policy change by making it known that they wanted change. As a result, congress passed the Fourteenth Amendment which guarantees equal protection under the law. In more recent times, women’s rights groups are lobbying for discrimination against women to end.
4. Consumer and Other Public Interest Lobbies- Analyze how public interest lobbies work.
a. A public interest lobby is an “organization that seek a collective good, the achievement of which will not benefit the membership or activists of the organization.” Thousands of groups are claiming to be public interest lobbies. This is good for American society because it makes the nation better off as a whole, with policy not just benefitting the members of the interest group who supported