Political Science 1020E Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Corporatism, Amicus Curiae, Elite
7 Nov 2017
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Interest groups aim to influence, not become, the government. Like parties, interest groups emerged alongside representative government. Communal: embedded (born into particular class, ethnicity, etc), not detached (identity you voluntarily assume) Institutional: parts of government (state can be broken up into different interest groups) Associational groups: voluntary, complex web of competing interests . Sectional pressure groups seek to represent the common interests of a particular section of society. As a result, members of sectional pressure groups are directly and personally concerned with the outcome of the campaign fought by the group because they usually stand to gain professionally and/or economically. Not self-interested in that the achievement of their objectives is not necessarily of direct professional or economic benefit to the members of the group (wwf) De tocqueville: modern democracy best grounded on interests, associations. Early 20th century american political science embraced pluralism. Interest groups outperform parties at linking people and government.
