Groups, Interests, and U.S. Public Policy

by Browne, William P.

• ISBN13: 9780878406821
• ISBN10: 0878406824
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-05-01
• Publisher: Georgetown Univ Pr

Summary

Synthesizing theory, personal research, and prior studies on interest groups and other lobbies, William P. Browne offers a new, insightful overview of organized political interests and explains how and why they affect public policy.Drawing on his extensive experience researching interest groups, Browne assesses the impact that special interests have long had in shaping policy. He explains how they fit into the policymaking process and into society, how they exercise their influence, and how they adapt to changing circumstances.Browne describes the diversity of existing interests -- associations, businesses, foundations, churches, and others -- and explores the multidimensional tasks of lobbying, from disseminating information through making financial contributions to cultivating the media. He shows how organized interests target not just the public and policymakers but even other interest groups, and how they create policy niches as a survival strategy. He also looks at winnable issues, contrasts them with more difficult ones, and explains what makes the difference."Groups, Interests, and U.S. Public Policy" is a serious study written in a lighthearted tone. It offers political scientists a new theory of how and why interest groups influence public policy while it enlightens students and general readers about how policy is actually shaped in America.

Author Biography

William P. Browne is a professor of political science at Central Michigan University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. xi
Introduction	p. 1
Three Guiding Principles	p. 1
Asking the Right Questions	p. 3
The Following Chapters	p. 6
Interest Groups and Public Policy	p. 9
What Are Interest Groups?	p. 11
When a Group's Not an Interest Group	p. 13
But Isn't It All Politics?	p. 17
Why People Join and Stay with Interest Groups	p. 19
The Fit between Joiners and Their Groups	p. 25
Summary and Highlights	p. 27
Other Interests	p. 30
Business Institutions	p. 33
Social Institutions	p. 39
Governmental Institutions	p. 43
Personality-Based Interests	p. 49
The Problem with Pressure	p. 55
Summary and Highlights	p. 60
The Meaning of Lobbying	p. 62
The Contact Game	p. 64
Lobbying as Winning Attention	p. 68
Reinforcement: Same Techniques, Different Purpose	p. 75
But Does This Busy Game Fit?	p. 78
Summary and Highlights	p. 81
Targeting the Public	p. 84
Not Just Mobilizing the Joiners	p. 86
But Isn't the Public a New Target?	p. 87
Public Targets in a Modern Era	p. 91
The Media: Interest Partner or Follower?	p. 95
Does This Really Fit?	p. 102
Summary and Highlights	p. 105
Targeting Policymakers	p. 109
Institutionalizing the Contact Game	p. 111
Paying for This Colorful History	p. 118
And the Price Goes On	p. 125
Changes in Governing, Changes in Interests	p. 131
Summary and Highlights	p. 134
Targeting Other Interests	p. 137
Buying Help	p. 139
Forging Coalitions	p. 146
Other Lobbying of Interests	p. 154
The Resiliency of Interest Politics	p. 163
Summary and Highlights	p. 166
Getting What Interests Want: The Winners	p. 168
Which Are Those Fortunate Interests?	p. 171
Gatekeeping Politics	p. 180
Good Issues and Compatible Public Institutions	p. 184
Summary and Highlights	p. 189
What Some Interests Can't Get: The Losers	p. 192
What Are Some Bad Issues?	p. 193
Institutionalizing All This Stuff, or Not	p. 197
Government's Champions	p. 200
And No Rural Lobby at All	p. 202
Issues That Fit and Those That Don't	p. 205
Summary and Highlights	p. 207
Revisiting Niches, Networks, Domains, and Other Scary Things	p. 209
Triangles: The Scariest Idea of All	p. 211
The Fallacy of Networks and Domains	p. 215
Niches: Getting a Little More into It	p. 219
Can There Be a Theory of Interests and Policy?	p. 226
Summary and Highlights	p. 228
A Wasted Process? Or Running (Ruining?) Things?	p. 230
The Matter of Fit	p. 230
Adaptation by Interests	p. 233
How Much Does Lobbying Matter?	p. 235
A Concluding Word	p. 239
Notes	p. 241
Index	p. 269
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