Unit 4; Linkage Institutions [Political parties and the Media] & [3rd Parties and interest groups]

Everything the government does for the people is known…

Public policy

helps create public policy by connecting the people to the government and engaging them

Linkage institutions

Examples of Linkage institutions

The media, political parties, and interest groups try to influence public opinion and public policy, and therefore, have a significant impact on the government.

The mass media helps set the ______ or issues that are likely to be addressed by the government

public agenda

major criticism against major news outlets

they are businesses and must operate in ways that allow them to make a profit. This leads to advertisements, biased information, or a focus in stories that will create public interest

horse race journalism

focuses on who is wining an election and without explicitly making commentary about it, making it more reliable and unbiased. A problem with this type of reporting is that it focuses more on the candidates and their personalities and popularity than their stance on specific issues.

Democrats are typically…

liberal, focus on civil rights issues, and want the government to fix social problems with public policy and are usually in the majority in urban centers in the United States.

Republicans are typically…

conservative—they want to lower taxes and increase the efficiency of the government by lowering its size and waste and often account for the majority of rural populations in the United States.

Functions of Political Party

• recruiting candidates to run for office

• help candidates win by supporting them through campaign contributions

• unify around particular and foundational issues

Political Platform

allows parties to sync different candidates together, and it tries to educate voters by offering cues (Cues make voting a more streamlined process, as it is extremely difficult to stay informed on all the candidates running for all offices)

Parties change and adapt to remain relevant

As the needs of the people change, parties too must change or face losing the support of the public.

A difficult problem for political parties is that they are ________; it is hard for party outsiders to secure nominations to run for office even if they are qualified to hold that office

private institutions

Caucus

time when members of the party meet in private to nominate and pick candidates.

examples of third parties

Green Party and the Libertarian Party

Why is it difficult for third parties to win

• elections are usually run on a winner-take-all basis, third parties do not get to control a percentage of the government even if they had a considerable amount of support.

• bringing up these controversial topics, they add to the national debate, and some of their ideas could eventually be included in the platforms of the two major parties

• third parties can take away votes from the major parties and can make an impact on major elections

Interest groups are similar to ______, as both groups focus on helping people participate in government and influencing public policy

political parties

main difference between Interest groups and political parties

interest groups do not run for office while political parties do.

• Interest groups usually focus on a singular issue such as guns, civil liberties, the rights of Hispanics, or the just treatment of animals, while political parties focus on many issues.

how do Interest groups and political parties work together

• Interest groups support candidates and political parties by endorsing them to run for office, donating money, and endorsing get-out-the-vote campaigns.

• Interest groups also lobby members of Congress to get laws passed in their favor

• advertise in the media to promote their causes and raise awareness for issues

Lobbying

members of a group wait outside in the lobby of Congress and talk to the congressmen as they exit their chambers in order to persuade them of their point of view

major criticism of interest groups

they may become too powerful in their influence over politics. Some interest groups are so well funded that they crush opposition and discourage counter groups from forming

interest groups being beneficial to society

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, known as NAACP, helped fund lawyers which fought against segregation in the Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education. Without this interest group, desegregation may have been a much slower process

Policy creation and implementation is very complicated since several groups compete to get what they want out of policy. A good summary of this complex procedure is the relationship of ______, showcase the relationship between interest groups, congress, and the executive departmental agencies.

Iron Triangles

Congress and Interest Groups

• Interest Groups send electoral support

• Congress writes favorable laws

interest groups

any association of individuals or organizations, usually formally organized, that, based on one or more shared concerns, attempts to influence public policy in its favour. They all share a desire to affect government policy to benefit themselves or their causes.

Congress and Executive Bureaucracy

• Congress funds the specific agency

• The agency determines how to carry out those policies

Interest Groups and Executive Bureaucracy

• Interest groups give agencies support by lobbying

• Bureaucracy determines regulation affecting the interest groups