Political Science 161
Questions for Bardes, et al,
1. What is an interest group? What is lobbying? What is a social movement? How do they relate to interest group formation? What is the free rider problem?
2. What are the three major types of benefits (or incentives) of interest groups? Give examples of each
3. Give some examples of business interest groups, agricultural interest groups, labor interest groups, public employee interest groups, interest groups of professionals, and environmental interest groups. What is a public interest group? Give some examples. What is a single interest group? Why do foreign governments lobby?
4. What are some factors that make one interest group more powerful than another? Give some direct techniques used by interest groups to influence government. Give some indirect techniques that are used by interest groups. What is the “ratings game”? What is interest group “climate control”?
5. How do PACs get around campaign contribution limits? What is issue advocacy lobbying? What are limits put on it in the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002?
6. What are the five provisions of the lobbying legislation passed by Congress in late 1995?
7. What are the biases of the American pluralist system? Why do the most powerful interest groups sometimes fail? Briefly discuss the gun control issue.