Unit 5 Vocab Quiz

Agenda Building

The process by which interest groups identify societal problems and work to get politicians and policymakers to address them, bringing new issues to the forefront.

Amicus Curiae Brief

A "friend of the court" brief filed by an individual or group that is not a direct party to a case but has an interest in the outcome. It provides supplementary legal arguments for the court to consider.

Bureaucracy

The millions of employees in the executive branch who carry out the responsibilities of the federal government, including cabinet departments, agencies, and commissions.

Coalition Building

The strategy of different interest groups joining together to advocate for similar goals, thereby increasing their collective influence on legislators.

Direct Lobbying

The act of an interest group sending a paid lobbyist to directly communicate with and persuade legislators or bureaucratic officials.

Free Rider Problem

An issue faced by interest groups where individuals can benefit from the group's work (e.g., cleaner air) without making a direct contribution or becoming a member, thus reducing the incentive to join.

Grassroots Lobbying

A strategy where an interest group mobilizes its members and the general public to apply pressure on policymakers, often through letter-writing campaigns, protests, social media, and phone calls. Described as a tactic for groups that are "money-poor, people-rich."

Interest Group

An organized group of individuals who gather around a policy issue to appeal to and persuade policymakers to pass legislation favorable to the group. Their primary goal is to influence public policy.

Iron Triangle

A mutually beneficial, informal alliance between three entities: an interest group, a congressional committee, and a bureaucratic agency. These networks strongly influence the policy process by exchanging electoral support, funding, and favorable policy implementation.

Issue Network

An informal conglomeration of various individuals and groups who come together around a specific issue to affect policy change. Issue networks are often seen as having weakened the dominance of iron triangles.

Linkage Institutions

Institutions that connect citizens to their government and enable them to communicate their preferences. The four main types are elections, media, interest groups, and political parties.

Lobbying

The act of directly interacting with policymakers to persuade them to support a group's position. Lobbyists provide policy research, draft legislation, and testify at hearings.

Lobbyist

A professional hired by an interest group to persuade political leaders to support the group's policy goals. Many are experts in their field or are former lawmakers.

Pluralist Model

A model of democracy where political power is distributed among a wide array of diverse and competing interest groups. This model suggests that the competition ensures that no single group can dominate, and public policy emerges from compromise.

Political Action Committee (PAC)

An organization that collects and distributes campaign funds to candidates. Interest groups can form their own PACs but are distinct from them. PACs are primarily concerned with elections.

Program Monitoring

A role played by interest groups where they serve as "watchdogs" over government action. This includes monitoring legislation, tracking bureaucratic rulemaking, and alerting the public to government actions that may threaten their goals.

Revolving Door

The phenomenon in which former lawmakers or bureaucrats leave public service to take high-paying jobs as lobbyists, leveraging their insider knowledge and connections to influence policy on behalf of interest groups.

Selective Benefits

Goods, services, or benefits (such as newsletters, discounts, or professional training) that are available only to the members of an interest group. They are used to combat the free rider problem by providing an incentive to join.

Social Movement

A broad-based, often grassroots effort by many people to achieve major policy change. While sometimes lacking formal leadership or resources, successful movements can transform into organized interest groups over time.

Super PAC

A type of political action committee that can raise and spend unlimited sums of money on independent political expenditures, such as media ads, to support or oppose candidates. They cannot coordinate directly with candidates' campaigns. Their creation was enabled by the Citizens United v. FEC ruling.