Interest Groups and Lobbying (American Government)

Recall cards on interest groups and lobbying in American politics. Interest groups defined: lobbyists, membership organizations, associations, particularized benefits, public interest groups, and collective goods. Collective action and group formation: the collective action and free rider problems and the material, solidary, and purposive incentives and disturbance theory that overcome them. Interest groups as political participation: efficacy, grassroots versus astroturf movements, and issue framing. Pathways of influence: inside versus outside lobbying, contract, in-house, and legislative-liaison lobbyists, iron triangles, issue networks, voting cues, neopluralism, and the elite critique. And free speech and regulation: the First Amendment right to petition, soft money, revolving door laws, Citizens United, McCutcheon, and the FECA, BCRA, Lobbying Disclosure Act, and Honest Leadership statutes.