| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Interest group | organization of people with shared policy goals entering the policy process at several points to try to achieve those goals. |
| Pluralist theory | a theory of government and politics emphasizing that politics is mainly a competition among groups, each one pressing for its own preferred policies. |
| Elite theory | a theory of government and politics contending that societies are divided along class lines and that an upper-class elite will rule, regardless of the formal niceties of governmental organization. |
| Hyperpluralist theory | a theory of government and politics contending that groups are so strong that government is weakened. |
| Subgovernments | a network of groups within the American political system that exercise a great deal of control over specific policy areas. Also known as iron triangles, they are composed of interest group leaders interested in a particular policy, the government agency in charge of administrering that policy, and the members of congressional committees and subcommittes handling that policy. |
| Potential group | all the people who might be interest group members because they share some common interest. |
| Actual group | the part of the potential group consisting of members who actually join. |
| Collective good | something of value that cannot be withheld from a group member. |
| Free-rider problem | the problem faced by unions and other groups when people do no join because they can benefit from the group’s activities without officially joining. The bigger the group, the more serious the problem. |
| Olson’s law of large groups | advanced by Mancur Olson, a principle stating that “the larger the group, the further it will fall short of providing an optimal amount of collective good.” |
| Selective benefits | goods that a group can restrict to those who pay their annual dues. |
| Single-issue groups | groups that have a narrow interest, tend to dislike compromise, and often draw membership from people new to politics. |
| Lobbying | according to Lester Milbrath, a “communication, by someone other than a citizen acting on his own behalf, directed to a governmental decisionmaker with the hope of influencing his decision.” |
| Electioneering | direct group involvement in the electoral process. Groups can help fund campaigns, provide testimony, and get members to work for candidates, and some form political action committees. |
| Political action committees | political funding vehicles created by the 1974 campaign finance reforms. A corporation, unions, or some other interest group can create a PAC and register it with the Federal Election Commission, which will meticulously monitor the PAC’S expenditures. |
| Amicus curiae briefs | legal briefs submitted by a “friend of the cout” for the purpose of raising additional points of view and presenting information not contained in the briefs of the formal parties. These attempt to influence a court’s decision. |
| Class action suits | lawsuits permitting a small number of people to sue on behalf of all other people similarly situated. |
| Union shop | a provision found in some collective bargaining agreements requiring all employees of a business to join the union within a short period, usually 30 days, and to remain members as a condition of employment. |
| Right-to-work law | a state law forbidding requirements that workers must join a union to hold their jobs. State laws were specifically permitted bgy the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947. |
| Public interest lobbies | according to Jeffrey Berry, organizations that seek “a collective good, the achievement of which will not selectively and materially benefit the membership or activities of the organization.” |
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