POLI 11 Chapter 5: Comparative Politics Today Notes Chapter 5.doc
Document Summary
Interest aggregation: the process by which political demands are combined into policy programs. Interest aggregation can happen in many ways: political parties may perform many different functions other than interest aggregation and that interests may be aggregated by different structures. Personal interest aggregation: one way to bring political interests together in policy-making is through personal connections. In developing societies, as citizens become aware of larger collective interests and have the resources and skills to work for them, personal networks tend to be regulated, limited, and incorporated within broader organizations. They have formal organization, but they also have other social and political responsibilities other than that of explicitly communicating their interests/demands to the government. The influence of these groups is usually drawn from the strength of their primary organizational base. A group based on a governmental institution has direct access to policymakers. i. e. military factions. In many contemporary political systems, parties are the primary structures of interest aggregation.
