Chapter 9

An interest group that focuses on policy benefits for senior citizens would be an example of

A single-issue group

The term iron triangle refers to

A small and informal but relatively stable set of bureaucrats, legislators, and lobbyists who are concerned with promoting a particular interest

Members of the __ generate more mail to Congress than any other group

AARP

The limits of interest groups' influence might be gauged by the Democratic backlash against the ___, which tried to block the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1993.

AFL-CIO

Which of the following is NOT a typical interest group function?

Addressing a broad and diverse range of public issues

A basic reason for the existence of so many interest groups in the United States is

All of these answers are correct

The Supreme Court Decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010)

Allows corporations and labor unions to spend unlimited funds on campaigns'

Which of the following organizations is NOT an example of a sing-issue group?

American Conservative

An informal grouping of officials, lobbyists and policy specialists who come together temporarily around a policy problem is

An issue network

In the 1830s, the Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville wrote that the "principle of ___" was nowhere more evident than in America.

Association

The influence of interest groups through the courts occurs through

Both initiating lawsuits and lobbying for certain judges to be appointed to the bench

The largest number of PACs are those associated with

Business

The most numerous economic groups are

Business groups

Some groups pursue collective goods. A collective good is one that

Cannot be selectively granted or denied to individuals; it must be shared

The air we breathe is an example of a

Collective good

Theodore Lowi's theory of interest-group liberalism

Deals with the tendency of officials to support the policy demands of the interest group or groups that have a special stake in a policy

Outside lobbying does NOT include

Developing and maintain close contacts with policymakers

Economist Mansur Olsen refers to what aspect of interest groups as "the size factor"?

Small groups are ordinarily more united on policy issues and often have more resources, enabling them to win out more often than large groups

The most fully organized interests are those that have which of the following as their primary purpose?

Economic activity

James Madison argued

For regulation of interests through a governing system of checks and balances

The situation in which individuals are tempted not to contribute to a cause because they will get the benefits even if they do not participate is called the

Free-rider problem

Super PACs have been criticized primarily for

Giving too much influence to the wealthy

PACs tend to contribute the most money to

Incumbents

Most lobbyists receive support from elected officials in direct exchange for

Information

An amicus brief

Is written document in which a group explains to a court its position on a legal dispute the court is handling

A main difference between iron triangles and issue networks is that

Issue networks are generally less stable than iron triangles, in that the members of an issue network may change as the issue develops

___ wrote that "Liberty is to faction what air is to fire."

James Madison

In the dynamic of an iron triangle, what benefit do interest groups provide to friendly government agencies?

Lobbying support for agency programs

The Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010) ruling held that super PAC spending

Must not be coordinated with election campaigns

Roughly how many American workers currently belong to unions?

One in eight

The theory that society's interests are more effectively represented through group action is

Pluralist theory

Grassroots lobbying is based on the assumption that officials will respond to

Pressure from constituents

Another name for an interest group is

Pressure group

Effective inside lobbying is based upon

Providing useful and persuasive information to key officials

"Agency capture" occurs when

Regulatory agencies side with the industries they are supposed to regulate rather than with the public

James Madison's solution to the problem of factions (special interests) has, in the modern policy process, actually contributed to the problem by

Resulting in fragmentation of authority among policymakers, thereby providing groups more opportunities to get their way

The second-largest number of PACs are those associated with

Single-issue groups, such as environmental groups and right-to- life groups

The Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010) ultimately led to the creation of

Super PACs

In recent decades, lobbyists in Washington, D.C., have increasingly

Targeted the executive branch in their efforts to influence policy decisions

Which citizens' group did a Fortune magazine survey rank as the nation's most powerful lobbying group?

The AARP

The dominant labor interest group is

The AFL-CIO

The citizens of ___ are MOST actively involved in interest groups and community causes

The United States

Why have issue networks become more prevalent?

The increasing complexity of policy problems

A flaw in pluralism theory is the fact that

The interest group system is unrepresentative, because some interests are far better organized and more powerful than others

Which of the following statement would NOT be accepted by supporters of the pluralist view of interest groups?

The opinion of the majority should always prevail, in a policy dispute, over the opinion of a more intense and directly affected minority

A purposive incentive is defined as

The opportunity to contribute to a worthy goal or purpose

Citzens' interest groups are distinguished from economic interest groups by the fact that

Their members receive no direct economic benefit from attainment of the group's goals

Economic groups have an advantage over noneconomic groups because

They have greater access to financial resources

In an effort to overcome the free-rider problem, noneconomic groups have

Used Internet resources and computer-assisted mailing lists to target potential donors

In acknowledging the dilemma inherent in group activity, James Madison

Worries that government would be overly dominated by groups, but recognized that a free society is obliged to permit the advocacy of self-interest

Political scientist Theodore Lowi has questioned pluralist theory by suggesting that

there is no concept of the public interest in a system that gives special interest the ability to determine the policy affecting them