Interest Group Politics

by Cigler, Allan J.; Loomis, Burdett A.

• ISBN13: 9781568021591
• ISBN10: 1568021593
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-08-01
• Publisher: Cq Pr

Summary

A new edition of the classic collection of essays on organize and how interests seek to affect election results and public policies. The new edition of this best-selling reader features 18 original essays -- nearly all of them new to this edition -- by top scholars in the field to present multiple, up-to-date perspectives on the formation, inner workings, and effectiveness of organized interests in politics. This scholarly but most accessible collection gives readers a comprehensive picture of the formation of pressure groups, their role in the electoral process, and their influence in policy making. The authors have revised and updated their excellent introductory chapter that offers an insightful summary of how interest group politics is changing and the impact to expect from these changes.

Author Biography

Allan J. Cigler is Chancellor's Club Teaching Professor of Political Science at the University of Kansas.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. vii
Contributors	p. ix
Introduction: The Changing Nature of Interest Group Politics	p. 1
Group Organization
Groups, Social Capital, and Democratic Orientations	p. 37
The National Rifle Association in the Face of the Clinton Challenge	p. 55
Collective Entrepreneurialism and Breast Cancer Advocacy	p. 79
Just Another Tool? How Environmental Groups Use the Internet	p. 95
Groups in the Electoral Process
Interest Group Money in Elections	p. 117
Campaigning outside the Law: Interest Group Issue Advocacy	p. 141
A Distant Thunder? Religious Mobilization in the 2000 Elections	p. 161
Interests, Lobbying, and the U.S. Congress: Past as Prologue	p. 185
Groups in the Policymaking Process
What Corporations Really Want from Government: The Public Provision of Private Goods	p. 205
Corporate Lobbyists as Political Actors: A View from the Field	p. 225
Lobbying the Press: "Talk to the People Who Talk to America"	p. 249
Organized Interests and Issue Definition in Policy Debates	p. 275
High-Tech Learns to Play the Washington Game: The Political Education of Bill Gates and Other Nerds	p. 293
Exchange Theory and the Institutional Impetus for Interest Group Formation	p. 313
Assessments
Interest Groups and Gridlock	p. 333
Cracks in the Armor? Interest Groups and Foreign Policy	p. 355
Conclusion
Always Involved, Rarely Central: Organized Interests in American Politics	p. 381
Index	p. 393
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