Chapter 9 Vocab: Interest Groups: Organizing for Influence

Question 1

Interest group

Answer 1

Any organization that actively seeks to influence public policy. (See also “citizens’ [noneconomic] groups;” “economic groups.”)

Question 2

Economic groups

Answer 2

Interest groups that are organized primarily for economic reasons but that engage in political activity in order to seek favorable policies from government. (See also “citizens’ groups;” “interest group.”)

Question 3

Citizens’ groups

Answer 3

Also called 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. (See also “economic groups;” “interest group”)

Question 4

Private (individual) goods

Answer 4

Benefits that a group (most often an economic group) can grant directly and exclusively to individual members of the group. (See also “collective [public] goods.”)

Question 5

Collective (public) goods

Answer 5

Benefits that are offered by groups (usually citizens’ groups) as an incentive for membership but that are indivisible (such as a clean environment) and therefore are available to nonmembers as well as members of the particular group. (See also “free-rider problem;” “private [individual] goods.”)

Question 6

Free-rider problem

Answer 6

The situation in which the benefits offered by a group to its members are also available to nonmembers. The incentive to join the group and to promote its cause is reduced because nonmembers (free riders) receive the benefits (for example, a cleaner environment) without having to pay any of the group’s costs. (See also “collective [public] goods.”)

Question 7

Lobbying

Answer 7

The process by which interest-group members and lobbyists attempt to influence public policy through contacts with public officials.

Question 8

Inside lobbying

Answer 8

Direct communication between organized interests and policymakers, which is based on the assumed value of close (“inside”) contacts with policymakers.

Question 9

Iron triangle

Answer 9

A small and informal but relatively stable group of well-positioned legislators, executives, and lobbyists who seek to promote policies beneficial to a particular interest. (See also “issue network.”)

Question 10

Issue network

Answer 10

An informal and relatively open network of public officials and lobbyists who come together in response to a proposed policy in an area of interest to each of them. Unlike an iron triangle, an issue network disbands after the issue is resolved. (See also “iron triangle.”)

Question 11

Outside lobbying

Answer 11

A form of lobbying in which an interest group seeks to use public pressure as a means of influencing officials.

Question 12

Political action committee (PAC)

Answer 12

The organization through which an interest group raises and distributes funds for election purposes. By law, the funds must be raised through voluntary contributions.

Question 13

Super PACs

Answer 13

Election committees that are unrestricted in their fundraising and spending as long as they do not coordinate their campaign efforts with that of a candidate.