Untitled Flashcard Set

(1) Interest Group – an organization of people with a shared interest who try to affect public policy in favor of their interest

(2) Pluralists Theory – theory that political power is distributed among a wide array of diverse and competing interest groups

(3) Elite Theory – theory that political power is divided among class lines where the upper-class has all the power

(4) Hyperpluralists – theory of political power that says competing groups weaken government because it becomes paralyzed to not get much done because these competing groups are so strong

(5) Disturbance Theory – The theory that an external event can lead to interest group mobilization and that groups form to counteract the efforts of other groups 

(6) Transactions Theory – theory that states public policies are the result of narrowly defined exchanges or transactions among political actors

(7) Collective Goods – something of value that cannot be withheld from a nonmember of a group; EX: tax write off, a better environment, etc. 

(8) Public Interest Groups – an organization that seeks a collective good that will not benefit only select group members; (EX: League of Women's Voters, Better Business Bureau) 

(9) Economic Interest Groups – group with the primary purpose of promoting the financial interest of its members

(10) Potential Group – all the people who might be interest group members because they share some common interest; a potential group is always larger than the actual group

(11) Actual Group – that part of the potential group that actually join the group

(12) Free-rider problem – problems faced by unions and other groups where potential group members do not join the group but receive the benefits of the group; the bigger the group the larger the free-rider problem is; EX: non-union members benefit from the contract a union negotiates with management even though they are not in the union 

(13) Political Action Committees (PAC) – created in 1975 by campaign finance reform laws;  they are a fund-raising organization created for the sole purpose of raising money for political candidates;  there are rules and regulations they must follow and are enforced by the Federal Election Commission  

(14) Olson’s law of large groups – a principle that states “the larger the group, the further it will fall short of providing an optimal amount of a collective good”

(15) Lobbyists – representative of an interest group that seeks to influence legislation that will benefit their organization or client “lobbying” through persuasion (both political or financial) 

(16) Selective benefits – goods that a group can restrict to those who pay their annual dues

(17) Single-issue groups – interest groups that have a narrow (single) interest

(18) Electioneering – direct group involvement in the electoral process; EX: funding campaigns, providing testimony, working for candidates, etc

(19) Right to work law – state law forbidding requirement that workers must join a union to hold their jobs; were permitted by the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947

(20) Public Interest lobbies – lobbyists who seek a collective good rather than benefiting only a select group of people 

(22) Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 – lobbying reform banning gifts to members of Congress and their staffs, toughening disclosure requirements, and increasing time limits on moving from federal government to the private sector