AP Gov Unit 4: Interest Groups Flashcards

514758346	Cue (political)	A signal, frequently provided by interest groups, that tells a politician what values are at stake in an issue & how that issue fits into his or her own set of political beliefs	0
514758347	Direct mail	A mailing from an interest group focused at a specialized audience whose purpose is both to raise money and mobilize supporters	1
514758348	Federal Regulation of Lobbying Act of 1946	Required groups & individuals seeking to influence legislation to register with the secretary of the Senate & the clerk of the House of Rep. Quarterly financial reports on expenses were also to be filed. (Not very effective - 1995 legislation more stringent)	2
514758349	Ideological Interest Group	An organization that attracts members by appealing to their interests on a coherent set of controversial principles	3
514758350	Incentive	Something of value offered by mass-membership organizations to get people to join; exclusive to members	4
514758351	Institutional Interests	Organization that seeks to influence public policy.	5
514758352	Lobby	A group that attempts to influence legislation through direct contact with members of the legislative or executive branches	6
514758353	Lobbyist	A person attempting to influence government policy on behalf of a lobby	7
514758354	Material Incentive	Something tangible, such as money or services, which attract people to join mass-membership organizations	8
514758355	Membership Interests	A type of interest group that represents the interest of its members	9
514758356	Pluralistic Political System	A description of the American political system, once used by scholars, contending that the policy-making process encompasses the effective competition of interest groups. This account is generally considered wrong, or at least incomplete	10
514758357	Political Action Committee (PAC)	An organization which finances candidates and may lobby. Such organizations can contribute no more than $5,000 to a federal candidate in any election	11
514758358	Purposive Incentive	An incentive to join a mass-membership organization based on the appeal of the group's goal	12
514758359	Ratings	A type of cue supplied by some interest groups that ranks legislators on their degree of support for a particular cause, such as unions or the environment. These can be helpful sources of information, but are often biased	13
514758360	Social Movement	A widely shared demand for change in some aspect of the social or political order	14
514758361	Solidary Incentive	An inducement to join a mass-membership organization based on the sense of pleasure, status, or companionship derived from membership	15
514758362	Interest Groups	Groups that share goals, ideas and try to influence public policy	16
514758363	How are interest groups good?	Democratic nature, band together in times of trouble	17
514758364	How are interest groups bad?	According to Madison's Fed. #10, competing factions, government doesn't suppress but instead mediates, thus some are more powerful	18
514758365	What are the five benefits/roles of government?	representation - of group participation - in political process education - of group/society agenda building - address issue that government isn't program monitoring - if not working, change	19
514758366	Why are interest groups common in the U.S.?	Many kinds of cleavages, constitution makes many access points to gov't, pol. parties are weakening, interest groups work directly on gov't	20
514758367	What interest groups were prevalent in 1770s?	Independence groups	21
514758368	What interest groups were prevalent in 1830-1840s?	Religious, antislavery	22
514758369	What interest groups were prevalent in 1880-1890s?	Business, unions	23
514758370	What interest groups were prevalent in 1900-1920s?	Charities	24
514758371	What interest groups were prevalent in 1960s?	Civil rights, environmental, consumer, antiwar	25
514758372	What factors explain the rise of interest groups?	Economic development creates new interest, gov't policy (e.g. wars create veterans), emergence of strong leaders	26
514758373	What are the main resources of an interest group?	Members, lobbyists, PACs, money	27
514758374	Which interest groups can maintain members well, which can't?	Unions and professional groups do well (esp. with closed shop), while citizen groups do poorly	28
514758375	What do new interest groups need to do?	Need to distinguish themselves, int. groups are competitive	29
514758376	What 2 professions do most lobbyists come from?	Politicians and lawyers	30
514758377	What is there in increase in PAC-wise?	Ideological PACs; 1/3 lib., 2/3 conserv.	31
514758378	Who gets the most PAC money?	Incumbents	32
514758379	How is PAC money generally given to parties?	Labor (unions) to Dem., business split between Dem. & Rep.	33
514758380	What are the main activities of interest groups?	Direct contact, revolving door, grassroots, information campaigns, coalition building	34
514758381	How does direct contact work?	Meetings with legislature, testify @ committee hearings, legal advocacy (litigation over a law), best when lobbying for/against a specific bill. Most common activity	35
514758382	How does the revolving door work?	Lobbies provide promise of future jobs to gov't officials	36
514758383	What is the iron triangle?	Relationship between Executive Department, a Congressional committee, and an interest group	37
514758384	How does grassroots work?	Letter writing, phone calls, faxes to gov't officials, protests - draw media attention, unable to sustain anger for a long period of time, most effective when it involves a lot of people and a controversial issue	38
514758385	How does an information campaign work?	Sponsor research & meetings, most effective on narrow & technical issues, gov't officials need cues, rating systems. Most important activity	39
514758386	How does coalition building work?	Interest groups with similar interests band together	40
514758387	How do interest groups show an upper-class bias?	More affluent & educated are more likely to join, business/prof. groups are more numerous & better financed	41
514758388	How do interest groups show a lack of upper-class bias?	Often divided among themselves, poor represented by rich	42
514758389	What are membership rates for int. groups in the U.S. like compared to Western Europe?	Social, business, professional: same rate as elsewhere Unions: less likely (except closed shop) Religious, political, civic: more likely	43
514758390	What are the incentives to join an int. group?	Solidary (campanionship), material ($ and services), purposive (goal of organization)	44
514758391	What are ideological interest groups, or citizen groups?	Not related to members' professions, get more media coverage	45
514758392	What are public interest groups?	Purpose principally benefits nonmembers	46
514758393	What is a social movement?	A widely shared demand for change	47
514758394	How are interest groups protected?	First Amendment (mainly right to free speech and petition)	48
514758395	How did the 1946 Federal Regulation of Lobbying Act work?	Accomplished little in requiring registration, no staff to enforce the laws	49
514758396	What restrictions did the 1995 Lobbying Disclosure Act place on int. groups?	Requires 2 reports per year, including client names, expenditures, and issues; bans gifts from lobbyists	50
514758397	Who is exempted from the 95 Lobbying Disclosure Act?	Grassroots organizations	51
514758398	How is the 95 Lobbying Disclosure Act enforced?	No enforcement agency, but Justice Department may take action	52
514758399	Who is this Quizlet brought to you by?	John Peichel, Moderate Party candidate Everything's better in moderation	53