Political Science 2230E Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Transitional Justice, Mind Institute, Policy Network

• School: Western University
• Department: Political Science
• Course: Political Science 2230E
• Professor: Alcantara

Document Summary

Organizations whose goal is not to win government, but instead influence the policy process and to a lesser extent, society at large. Interest groups are also referred to as advocacy groups and pressure groups. Lisa young and joanna everitt define these groups as any organization that seeks to influence government policy. Interest groups facilitate collective action (montpetit: they mobilize members who may share similar interests and ideas but previously had no incentive to work together towards influencing policy. To qualify as an interest group, an organization must be able to provide a list of dues-paying supporters and members. An interest group is only as good and legitimate as its membership. The legitimacy of an interest group comes from the ability of that interest group to speak definitively on behalf of the people it represents. Interest groups can be powerful precisely because they are viewed as legitimate representatives connecting groups of people and act as the collective voice for these individuals.