Chapter 11 - Interest Groups

Question 0

A theory of government and politics emphasizing that politics is mainly competition among groups, each one pressing for its own preferred policies

Answer 0

Pluralist theory

Question 1

An organization of people with shared policy goals entering the policy process at several points to try to achieve those goals

Answer 1

Interest groups

Question 2

A theory of government and politics contending that societies are divided along class lines and that an upper-class elite will rule, regardless of the formal niceties of governmental organization

Answer 2

Elite theory

Question 3

A theory of government and politics contending that groups are so strong that government is weakened

Answer 3

Hyperpluralist theory

Question 4

A network of groups within the American political system that exercise a great deal of control over specific policy areas

Answer 4

Subgovernments

Question 5

All the people who might be interest group members because they share some common interest

Answer 5

Potential group

Question 6

That part of the potential group consisting of members who actually join

Answer 6

Actual group

Question 7

Something of value (money, a tax write-off, prestige, clean air…) that cannot be withheld from a group member

Answer 7

Collective good

Question 8

When people do not join because they can benefit from the group’s activities without officially joining

Answer 8

Free-rider problem

Question 9

A principle stating that “the larger the group, the further it will fall short of providing an optimal amount of a collective good”

Answer 9

Olson’s law of large groups

Question 10

Groups that have narrow interest, tend to dislike compromise, and often draw membership from people new to politics

Answer 10

Single-issue groups

Question 11

According to Lester Milbrath, a “communication, by someone other than a citizen acting on his own behalf, directed to a governmental decision maker with the hope of influencing his decision”

Answer 11

Lobbying

Question 12

Direct group involvement in the electoral process. Groups can help fund campaigns, provide testimony, and get members to work for candidates, and some form PACs

Answer 12

Electioneering

Question 13

Political funding vehicles created by the 1974 campaign finance reforms.

Answer 13

PACs

Question 14

Legal briefs submitted by a “friend of the court” for the purpose of raising additional points of view and presenting information not contained in the briefs of the formal parties. They attempt to influence a court’s decision

Answer 14

Amicus curiae briefs

Question 15

Lawsuits permitting a small number of people to sue on behalf of all other people similarly situated

Answer 15

Class action suits

Question 16

A provision found in some collective bargaining agreements requiring all employees of a business to join the union within a short period, usually 30 days, and to remain members as a condition of employment

Answer 16

Union shop

Question 17

A state law forbidding requirements that workers must join a union to hold their jobs

Answer 17

Right-to-work law

Question 18

According to Jeffrey Berry, organizations that seek “a collective good, the achievement of which will not selectively and materially benefit the membership or activities of the organization.”

Answer 18

Public interest lobbies

Question 19

Goods (such as information publications, travel discounts, and group insurance rates) that a group can restrict to those who pay their annual dues

Answer 19

Selective benefits