interest groups

insider

use special access, relationships ans connections

cause

focus on benefitting all of society

sectional

fight for the interests of a relatively small, distinct group in society

outsider

use protests, strikes, demonstrations and media attention to build public awareness

insider causal groups

methods	effectiveness
Lobbying Congress and executive agencies Providing policy expertise and research Strategic litigation through Supreme Court Working with sympathetic administrations Media campaigns to support policy change Examples: ACLU, Human Rights Campaign	Represent broad public interest → high moral legitimacy Cooperative relationship with government departments Provide expertise and public support for policy goals More likely to achieve incremental policy change Risk of co-option reduces radical impact

outsider causal groups

methods	effectiveness
Mass protest and civil disobedience Social media mobilisation and grassroots pressure Agenda-setting via national media Targeting elections and primaries Ballot initiatives at state level Examples: Examples: NAACP Brown V Board 1954 , BLM 2020 Minneapolis, Sierra Club- environmental	Use direct action and media to raise awareness Mobilise public opinion when excluded from access Effective at agenda-setting, not policy drafting Can force government response via reputational pressure Risk of marginalisation if tactics seen as extreme

insider sectional groups

methods	effectiveness
Clear, narrow interests → strong bargaining power Regular access through policy networks Influence via expertise, funding, and implementation role Effective at securing favourable regulation or exemptions Democratic concern: elitism and unequal access	Professional lobbying in Washington Campaign donations and Super PAC support Direct access to congressional committees Drafting legislation and regulatory influence Revolving door between group and government Examples: AIPAC, NRA, US Chamber of Commerce

outsider sectional groups

methods	effectiveness
Often excluded due to confrontational tactics Use strikes, legal action, or public campaigns Can gain concessions during crises or high salience issues Less consistent influence than insider sectional groups Effectiveness depends on economic leverage	Industrial action and strikes Court challenges and legal pressure Grassroots organising at state level Public campaigning to force concessions Use of referendums and ballot measures Examples: Amazon Labor Union, Fight for $15

AIPAC

• insider

  • direct access to congress during debates on US military aid to Israel- got additional $12bn on top of $4bn

• causal

• single-interest

• partisan but used to be bipartisan

• in 2024 - 2025, AIPAC funded candidates in both parties, mostly primary challenges against progressive democrats critical of Israel

• AIPAC Spent $20 million 55% Against democrats

• AIPAC Spent $14 million 37% for Democrats and $0 for Republicans; don't need to persuade them

• AIPAC pressured Trump to moved the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem

AMA

• Insider Group

  • consulted by the Biden administration and Congress on health care workforce strategies and Medicare Reimbursement Rates (2024)

• sectional: represents doctors professional and economic interests

• Professional Group: focused on health care regulation pay, and higher quality performance

• bipartisan (leaning Democratic) align more closely with a democratic approach to health care, regulation and expansion

ACLU

• outsider group with judicial insider access

  • Democrat Party don't like them

  • since Dobbs V Jackson (2022), the ACLU has relied on strategic litigation to challenge abortion restrictions , voting laws and protest regulations (2023-2025)

• causal group: defence of constitutional rights

• policy group: operates across civil liberties

• formerly bipartisan but now partisan

  • targets Republican-led state legislation

NRA

• sectional group: gun owners, sellers, makers

  • has a strong membership of 5m paying members

• insider group: lobbying, donations

• partisan

  • donated Republican Party $800,000 in 2024

• outsider: goes to court such as DC v Heller (2008)

AFL - CIO

• Partisan Group

  • gave the Democrat Party $300 million in 2024

• policy group: pro union, working conditions

• professional: unions covering industries

• only one bill passed in 25 years (Biden) to change gun regulation

• spent $70 million on Trump in 2020 though he didn't win

• support Mary Petola - a Democrat who owns 176 guns

• in 1953, 35% were in trade unions compared to 2025 with 10%

federalist society

• interest group trying to reshape US judiciary

• single interest group influences judiciary

• professional group: republican justices, lawyers, law students

• policy group: like overturning Roe V wade (1973)

• access points from such as universities - the courts in USA are powerful as in the UK it is not a separate power

influence of federalst society

• politically conservative; a strict construction

• overturned roe v wade (1973) → dobbs v jackson (2022)

• affirmative action → students for fair admissions v harvard (2023)

• supported voting Rights Act 1965 In Alabama

• gun laws → DC v heller (2008)

• overturn Obamacare's birth control mandate

• Leonard Leo who is the co-chairman of federalist society:

  • drew up lists of potential SCOTUS justices that Trump released during 2016 campaign (including Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Coney Barrett, significantly impacting SCOTUS nominations)

  • put Hardiman on Trump's Supreme Court shortlist and help to confirm him to two earlier judgeships

  • drew on his network of contacts to place Federalist Society proteges in clerkships, judgeships and jobs in the White House and across the federal

• Kyle Duncan and Cory Wilson were members of Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies, the network of conservative and libertarian lawyers that Leo had built into a political juggernaut