Interest Groups and Lobbying

Interest Groups:

• organizations that work to achieve public policy goals

Lobbyist :

• Someone who represents the interest group before the government (in the legislative and executive branches). A lobbyist is an agent of the interest group

Advocacy:

• broader than lobbying; includes media, protests, coalition building, etc.

Pluralism:

• represents a society where power is distributed among many groups

• No one group or set of interests dominates politics in large and diverse countries. Therefore, they must compromise

• In a pluralistic society, no one gets everything they want, but most people get something

Biased pluralism:

• organized groups are unrepresentative of all groups in society, and thus yield disproportionate power.

• No one gets everything that they want, but some people get more.

• Who gets more?

  • Groups that are organized

  • Groups that have resources

  • Groups that are mobilized

• Interest groups intensely focus on issues that are important to them, and they get organized to advocate for or against issues or political positions

• Interest groups are a form of representation in American politics

Types of Interest Groups and Lobbyists:

Membership organizations:

• groups consisting of dues-paying members who fund their political activity, representing corporations or professions

Public interest groups:

• groups who advocate for the broader public good, whose political activity is funded by non profit donations and grants. Sometimes they do have “members”

Individual groups or businesses:

• who pay lobbyists to represent their interests in government

• Interest groups need funds and money in order to operate and execute acts

• They need to pay for: Offices and logistics Equipment; for protests, speakers…

• Advertising and outreach Campaign donations Salaries to lobbyists and other staff members Etc.

• Lobbying spending has been increasing for years, and with it the number of employed lobbyists (Open Secrets)

• Most of the funding goes to lobbying on the federal level, because:

• Federal legislation and executive acts affect all the states – it’s easier to affect policy this way

• The biggest interest groups and corporations who have more money to pay for lobbyists care about issues and policies under the authority of the federal government and Congress, rather than the state governments

The issues being lobbied the most: federal budget and appropriations / health / defense / taxes

Does Money Really Change Policy?

• The policy status quo prevails; most attempts to change the status quo fail

• “One sided mobilization” was best predictor of change; get as much people and organizations on your side to win

• Bigger spenders were no more likely to win

• Best predictor of lobbying success is defending existing policy, not money

• A large percentage of all the lobbying occurs on a small percentage of the issues – and most commonly, the interest groups fight to keep the status quo

• Richer groups who spend more money on lobbying “win” by keeping the status quo – they already got the policies that they wanted

Pathways to Interest Group Influence: soft power:

• Hard power = influencing elections; Soft power = shaping public opinion and agendas (e.g., through protest)

• Very few interest groups have significant hard power, especially under polarization

• Protests are a form of conflict expansion and agenda-setting

• Social movement:

  • agenda when large numbers of people are involved in protests and other political actions. Usually involves a coalition of interest groups

Political parties in the U.S:

• Political parties are coalitions that include interest groups — sometimes with competing goals

• Interest groups help shape party ideology and policy positions

• Interest groups in parties contribute to political polarization

• Interest groups within a party often compete for influence

• The Democratic Party is a larger and more diverse coalition than the GOP

• Party candidates seek broad support across interest groups in their coalition

• Interest groups claim to represent regular citizens

Foreign Lobbying in the U.S:

• Foreign lobbying is common and involves significant spending by countries to influence U.S. legislative and executive branches

• Lobbying areas include: tourism, trade, energy, armaments, and diplomatic support

• Foreign lobbying helps explain patterns in American foreign policy

The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy:

• The Israel lobby is described as a powerful coalition influencing U.S. foreign policy in a pro-Israel direction

• AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) is the central and most powerful group in the lobby

• The authors argue the lobby maintains the pro-Israel status quo and influences both political parties

Project 2025:

• The Heritage Foundation, a leading conservative think tank, organized and authored Project 2025

• Project 2025 is a detailed ultra-conservative policy blueprint for a Trump presidency

• The Trump administration has already implemented policies inspired by Project 2025

• This case illustrates the power of interest groups in shaping both political ideology and governance