The Role of Special Interest Groups in American Politics Essay

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THE ROLE OF SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS IN AMERICAN POLITICS

Like political parties, pressure groups can be considered another system that connects the citizen more directly to government. However, at the same instant there are marked differences in both composition and function that define interest groups as different entities from larger political parties. According to V.O. Key Jr. in a composition appropriately entitled Pressure Groups; pressure groups "Ordinarily concern themselves with only a narrow range of policies;" and unlike the goals of political parties, their intentions are to "influence the content of public policy rather than the results of elections." Nevertheless, it is a realized fact that special interest groups with …show more content…
The real result of such frenzies for publicity almost justifies and accounts for the willingness of special interest groups to campaign in morally corrupt ways. "The data makes it fairly clear that most of these campaigns do not affect the opinion of many people and even clearer that they have small effect by way of punitive or approbative feedback in the vote." The fact that organizations engage in these practices, "is in itself a tribute to the importance of public opinion." Previously discussed were some of the dark deeds that some special interest groups commit, and the Keysian hypothesis that group organizations have an intrinsically stunted ability to effectively link their constituents with the government. Walter Isaacson's essay, Running with the PACs, describes the changes that have occurred in special-interest representation since the 1970s. According to Isaacson, "there is nothing inherently evil about PACsthey are merely established

Interest Groups Essay

Discuss Whether The Power Of Interest Groups In US Politics Should Be Curtailed Interest groups have long played a part in US politics. Even in the Federalist Papers, James Madison talks of the negative role of factions in breaking apart the republic1. They can be defined as a collection of people who seek to publicly promote and create advantages for its cause, and typically aim to further common interests2. I think there is ultimately a conflict between two points of view. On the one hand there…

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ideas and the policies prepared for them by Washington-based institutions. To date, there has been no systematic scholarly effort aimed at analysing the spread of Washington Consensus ideas and policies in relation to the rise of the BRICs. This special issue attempts to fill this gap through six contributions that bring together scholars interested in the political economy of development and the sociology of ideational and institutional change. Their main finding is that the BRICs attempted to balance…

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Elitism is a select group of individuals who have dominant power in dominating institutions. According to C. Wright Mill the power elites are composed of executives, high ranking military officers, and corporate leaders. These power elites play key roles in the economy, government, and military institutions. Their power is rooted in authority an attribute of social organizations, not of individuals within society. They make decisions to protect their own self interest beyond the interest of society. Power…

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