![]() The community of interest groups in the United States has a relatively large number of groups and is quite active compared to other countries of the world.This percepective focuses on how well a movement can get preexisting organizations to work together. Another way to understand social movements’ success or failure is through the resource-mobilization perspective.As with interest groups, social movements that have entrepreneurs or special donors can be more likely to succeed. To understand why some social movements succeed and others fail, many scholars focus on collective-action problems.Understanding the incentives for interest groups to make campaign contributions can be thought of as a prisoner’s dilemma in which two groups each want consideration for political favors.Some scholars argue that politicians can coerce interest groups for contributions by threatening to advance policy favorable to another group. Outright bribery is illegal, but interest groups often make campaign contributions in hopes of advancing their cause.Interest groups also may try to influence policy by filing amicus curiae briefs for important court cases.Lobbyists can pursue the strategy of inside lobbying, where they directly contact policy makers and largely stay below the radar, or outside lobbying, where they mobilize the public to put pressure on policy makers.Evidence does suggest that members of Congress treat lobbyists as a source of information. Many scholars of pluralism, such as Robert Dahl, argue that many groups are active, but none is dominant. It can be hard to determine how effective campaign contributions are at influencing members of Congress.Interest groups also face coordination problems as several groups with the same purposes attempt to maximize their shared benefits by coordinating the same message, coordinating whom to lobby, and preventing excessive overlap in effort.Groups that are organized primarily for political purposes may overcome the collective action problem through selective incentives, special donors, or entrepreneurs.Groups are more likely to succeed in organizing if they share an interest other than influencing politics.Each would like the group to succeed, but the individual costs of joining outweigh the expected benefit of one more person joining. Persons with a common interest face a collective-action problem with organizing.Social movements also try to influence government, but are a loose coalition of groups and organizations with common goals.Lobbying refers to attempts to influence public officials by speaking to them directly or by pressuring them through their constituents.Interest groups can represent business corporations, trade associations, professional organizations, or individuals committed to a cause. An interest group is any group other than a political party that is organized to influence the government.Chapter 11 Interest Groups and Social Movements
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |