APGOVCH14.BRIANNANORIEGA. Flashcards
Interest Group
A collection of people or organizations that tries to influence public policy.
Interest Groups are different from political parties by the fact that they do not run candidates for office.
American Anti-Slavery Society
A major interest group, founded in 1833, to advocate for the abolition of the institution of slavery throughout the United States.
The American Anti-Slavery Society had 250,000 members by 1838.
Women’s Christian Temperature Union
A public Interest group created in 1874 with the goal of outlawing the sale of liquor. Its activities included prayer groups, protest marches, lobbying, and the destructions of saloons.
Many of the members of the Women’s Christian Temperature Union were religious.
The Grange
Founded in 1867 as an educational organization for framers. The Grange evolved into the first truly national interest group by working to protect the political and economic concerns of farming communities and rural areas.
The Grange was created from help by the federal government.
Lobbyist
Interest group representative who seeks to influence legislature that will benefit his or her organization or client through political and/or financial persuasion.
The Central Pacific Railroad sent a lobbyists to Washington, D.C.
Progressive Movement
A broad group of political and social activists from the 1890s to 1920s who opposed corruption in government, supported regulation of monopolies, and sought improvement of socioeconomic conditions.
The Progressive Movements grew out of concerns.
Public Interest Group
An organization that seeks a collective good that if achieved will not selectively and materially benefit group members.
Public interest groups were aimed at reform.
American Federation of Labor
Founded in 1886, the AFL brought skilled workers from several trades together into one stronger national organization for the first time. It merged in 1955 with the Congress of Industrial Organizations.
The American Federation of Labor was the first real union.
National Association of Manufacturers
An organization founded in 1895 by manufacturers to combat the growth of organized labor.
NAM first became active when a major tariff bill was under congressional consideration.
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
A major pro-business lobbying group founded in 1912.
The Chamber of Commerce was created with the help of the federal government.
Trade Association
A group that represents specific industry.
Trade associations were effective spokespeople for their companies.
Jerry Falwell
A Southern Baptist minister who, in 1978, founded the conservative religious interest group the Moral Majority.
Jerry Falwell was a Reverend.
Moral Majority
A conservative religious interest group credited with helping mobilize conservative Evangelical Christian voters from its founding in 1978 through the presidency of Ronald Reagan (1981-1989).
The moral Majority dissolved in the late 1980s.
Pat Robertson
A Southern Baptist minister and television evangelist who ran for president in 1988 and in 1989 founded the conservative religious group the Christian Coalition.
Pat Robertson was considered a televangelist.
Christian Coalition
A religious group founded in 1989 to advance conservative Christian principles and traditional values in American politics.
the Christian Coalition has grown in power and in influence.
National Rifle Association
The major gun-rights lobbying group in the United States, which opposes gun control and advances an expansive interpretation of the Second Amendment.
The NRA plays a huge role in the gun control debate.
AFL-CIO
A large labor founded in 1955 by the merging of the American Federation of Labor an its one time rival Congress of Industrial Organizations.
Labor became a stronger force in US politics when the AFL-CI emerged.
Social Capital
Cooperative relationships that facilitate the resolution of collective problems.
Political scientists believe that involvement in community groups enhances the level of social capital.
Civic Virtue
The tendency to form small scale associations for the public good.
The tendency to form civic virtue creates fertile ground within communities for improved development.
Pluralist Theory
The theory that political power is distributed among a wide array of diverse and competing interest groups.
The pluralist theory may explain interest groups.
Disturbance Theory
The theory that interest groups form as a result of changes in the political system.
Disturbance theory says that all salient issues will b represented in government.
Transactions Theory
The theory that public policies are the result of narrowly defined exchanges or transactions among political actors.
Transactions theory arose out of criticisms of the pluralist approach.
Collective Good
Something of value that cannot be withheld from a nonmember of a group, for example, a tax write off or a better environment.
In the case of collective food, it makes no sense people to join a group if they gain benefits from others at no cost.
Economic Interest Groups
A group with the primary purpose of promoting the financial interests of its members.
The three largest categories of economic interest groups are business groups, labor organizations, and farmers.
Political Action Committee
Officially recognized fund-raising organization that represents interest groups and is allowed by federal law to make contributions directly to candidates’ campaigns.
Many elected officials have leadership PACs.
Lobbying
The activities of a group of organization that seek to persuade political leaders to support the group’s position.
Lobbying is at the top of interest groups’ agendas.
Marian Wright Edelman
A lawyer who in 1973 founded the Children’s Defense Fund to protect the rights of children, particularly those who are members of disadvantaged groups.
Marian Wright Edelman is acknowledged for her accomplishments.
Patron
A person who finances a group or individual activity.
Government, foundation, and wealthy individuals can be patrons.
Free Rider Problem
Potential members who fail to join a group because they can get the benefit, or collective good, sought by the group without contributing the effort.
The free rider problem exists outside of politics, too.
Lobbying Disclosure Act
A 1995 federal law that employed a strict definition of lobbyist and established strict reporting requirements on the activities of lobbyists.
The Lobbing Disclosure Act was the first effort to regulate lobbying.
Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007
Lobbying reform banning gifts to members of Congress an their staffs, toughening disclosure requirements, and increasing time limits on moving from the federal government to he private sector.
Congress passed Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 in the wake of lobbying scandals.
