SUMMARY
It is common to argue that elected offi cials are letting inter-
est groups defi ne their agenda. However, the evidence does
not support these claims: there is no correlation between the
amount of money spent on lobbying and a group’s success,
nor is there conclusive evidence that group lobbying infl u-
ences policy. Groups are generally most infl uential when the
issues attract little public attention, and when the issue does
not have organized opposition.
CRITICAL THINKING AND DISCUSSION
A friend complains to you about the enormous power of
organized interests in American politics, citing a group’s
recent victory in getting members of Congress to approve
its policy proposal. Present three other possible explana-
tions for this victory that are not related to the political
power of the interest group.
PRACTICE QUIZ QUESTIONS
- Interest groups generally lobby __ in
government.
a) their opponents
b) their friends
c) the undecided
d) the newly elected
e) the less informed
- Interest groups are more likely to succeed when their
request has __ salience; and when it has
__ confl ict.
a) low; little
b) high; little
c) low; high
d) high; high
e) high; zero
S PRACTICE ONLINE
“Big Think” video exercise: How Do Lobbies Aff ect the
Way We Eat?
HOW MUCH POWER DO INTEREST GROUPS HAVE?
E Evaluate interest group infl uence. Pages 246–50
STUDY GUIDE|^253
SUGGESTED READING
Ainsworth, Scott. Analyzing Interest Groups: Group Infl uence on
People and Policies. New York: Norton, 2002.
Baumgartner, Jeff rey, M. Berry, Marie Hojnacki, David C. Kimball,
and Beth L. Leech. Lobbying and Policy Change: Who Wins,
Who Loses, and Why. Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
2009.
Carpenter, Daniel. The Forging of Bureaucratic Autonomy:
Reputations, Networks, and Policy Innovation in Executive
Agencies, 1862–1928. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University
Press, 2002.
Kollman, Kenneth. Outside Lobbying: Public Opinion and Interest
Group Strategies. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press,
1998.
Lowi, Theodore. The End of Liberalism: The Second Republic of the
United States. New York: Norton, 1979.
Olson, Mancur. The Logic of Collective Action, 2nd ed. Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press, 1971.
Schattschneider, E. E. The Semi-Sovereign People. New York:
Harper and Row, 1959.
Schlozman, Kay Lehman, and John Tierney. Organized Interests
and American Democracy. New York: HarperCollins, 1986.
Stigerwalt, Amy. The Battle over the Bench: Senators, Interest
Groups, and Lower Court Confi rmations. Charlottesville:
University of Virginia Press, 2010.
Verba, Sidney, Kay Lehman Schlozman, and Henry Brady. Voice
and Equality: Civic Participation in America. Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press, 1995.
Walker, Jack. Mobilizing Interest Groups in America. Ann Arbor:
University of Michigan Press, 1991.