unit 2 ch 7 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.
