ch 7 - ap gov Flashcards
Citizens’ (noneconomic) groups
Organized interests formed by individuals drawn together by opportunities to promote a cause in which they believe but that does not provide them significant individual economic benefits.
Iron triangle
the interaction of mutual interests among members of Congress, executive agencies, and organized interests during policy making.
Climate control
the practice of using public outreach to build favorable public opinion of an organization.
Issue network
The fluid web of connections among those concerned about a policy and those who create and administer the policy.
Economic groups
Interest groups that are organized primarily for economic reasons but that engage in political activity in order to seek favorable policies from government.
Lobbying
The process by which interest-group members or lobbyists attempt to influence public policy through contacts with public officials.
Economic incentive
Motivation to join an interest group because the group works for policies that will provide members with material benefits.
Outside lobbying
A form of lobbying in which an interest group seeks to use public pressure as a means of influencing officials.
Electioneering
Working to influence the elections of candidates who support the organization’s issues.
Pluralist theory
A theory that holds that policy making is a competition among diverse interest groups that ensure the representation of individual interests.
Elite theory
A theory that holds that a group of wealthy, educated individuals wields most political power.
Political action committee (PAC)
An entity whose specific goal is to raise and spend money to influence the outcome of elections.
Free-rider problem
The phenomenon of someone deriving benefit from others’ actions.
Private (individual) good
Benefits that a group (most often an economic group) can grant directly and exclusively to individual members of the group.
Inside lobbying
Direct communication between organized interests and policymakers, which is based on the assumed value of close (“inside”) contacts with policymakers.
Public employee unions
Labor organizations comprising federal, state, and municipal workers, including police officers and teachers.
interest group
An organization that seeks to achieve goals by influencing government decision making.
Public goods
Goods whose benefits cannot be limited and that are available to all.
Rational choice theory
The idea that from an economic perspective it is not rational for people to participate in collective action when the can secure the collective good without participating.
Purposive incentive
Motivation to join an interest group based on the belief in the group’s cause from an ideological or a moral standpoint.
Social capital
The many ways in which our lives are improved in many ways by social connections.
Super PACs
Political organizations that use contributions from individuals, corporations, and labor unions to spend unlimited sums independent from the campaigns, yet influencing the outcomes of elections.
Solidary incentives
The motivation to join an interest group based on the companionship and the satisfaction derived from socializing with others that it offers.
Umbrella organizations
interest groups that represent collective groups of industries or corporations.
