A Glossary of Political Interest Groups and Lobbying
527 Organization
A political group organized under section 527 of the IRS code that may accept and spend unlimited amounts of money on election activities, so long as they are not spent on broadcast ads run in the last 30 days before a primary or 60 days before a general election in which a clearly identified candidate is referred to and a relevant electorate is targeted.
Amicus Curiae Brief
Literally, a “friend of the court” brief, filed by an individual or organization to present arguments in addition to those presented by the immediate parties to a case.
Boycott
A form of pressure or protest – an organized refusal to purchase a particular product or deal with a particular business.
Bundling
A tactic in which PACs collect contributions from like-minded individuals (each limited to $2,000) and present them to a candidate or political party as a “bundle,” thus increasing the PAC’s influence.
Campaign Assistance
Interest groups have additional strategies to use in their attempt to influence governmental policies. Groups recognize that they need legislators to represent their policies/goals. Often they participate in getting legislators elected.
Climate Control
The use of public relations techniques to create favorable public opinion toward an interest group, industry, or corporation.
Collective Action
How groups form and organize to pursue their goals or objectives, including how to get individuals and groups to participate and to cooperate. The term has many applications in the various social sciences, such as political science, sociology, and economics.
Direct Techniques
An interest group activity that involves interaction with government officials to further the group’s goals.
Earmark
A provision in a law that provides a direct benefit without having been reviewed on the merits by all of Congress.
Economic Interest Groups
A type of interest group that represents the main sectors of the economy, such as business, agriculture, labor unions, government workers, and professionals. (Ex: U.S. Chamber of Commerce, AFL-CIO, National Education Association)
Environmental Interest Groups
A type of interest group that started to protect the environment. (Ex: Sierra Club, National Audubon Society, Greenpeace)
Faction
A term the founders used to refer to political parties and special interests or interest groups.
Foreign Governments
The governments of the largest U.S. trading partners, such as Canada, the European Union, Japan, and South Korea, maintain substantial research and lobbying staffs to influence policy interests.
Free Rider
An individual who does not join a group representing his or her interests yet receives the benefit of the group’s influence.
Grassroots Lobbying
The unique characteristic of this type of lobbying is that it involves stimulating the politics of specific communities.
Ideological Interest Groups
Political organizations that attract members by appealing to their political convictions or principles.
Incentive
Something of value one cannot get without joining an organization.
Independent Expenditures
The Supreme Court has ruled that individuals, groups, and parties can spend unlimited amounts in campaigns for or against candidates as long as they operate independently from the candidates. When an individual, group, or party does so, they are making an independent expenditure.
Indirect Techniques
A strategy employed by interest groups that uses third parties to influence government officials.
Interest Group
A collection of people who share a common interest or attitude and seek to influence government for specific ends. Interest groups usually work within the framework of government and try to achieve their goals through tactics such as lobbying.
Issue Advocacy
Unlimited and undisclosed spending by an individual or group on communications that do not use words like “vote for” or “vote against,” although much of this activity is actually about electing or defeating candidates.
Issue Network
Relationships among interest groups, congressional committees and subcommittees, and the government agencies that share a common policy concern.
Latent Interests
Public policy interests that are not recognized or addressed by a group at a particular time.
Leadership PAC
A PAC formed by an officeholder that collects contributions from individuals and other PACs and then makes contributions to other candidates and political parties.
Lobbying
Engaging in activities aimed at influencing public officials, especially legislators, and the policies they enact.
Lobbyist
A person who is employed by and acts for an organized interest group or corporation to try to influence policy decisions and positions in the executive and legislative branches.
Material Incentives
Money or things valued in monetary terms.
Nongovernmental Organization (NGO)
A nonprofit association or group operating outside of government that advocates and pursues policy objectives.
One-Issue Interest Groups
Narrowly focused because their objectives are for a specific cause. Their members seem to care intensely about the issues. Thus, such groups can easily motivate their members to act on the group’s behalf. (Ex: PETA, National Right to Life Committee, NARAL Pro-Choice America, AARP, National Rifle Association)
Pluralism
A theory of government that holds that open, multiple, and competing groups can check the asserted power by any one group.
Political Action Committee (PAC)
The political arm of an interest group that is legally entitled to raise funds on a voluntary basis from members, stockholders, or employees to contribute funds to candidates or political parties.
Public Choice
Synonymous with “collective action,” it specifically studies how government officials, politicians, and voters respond to positive and negative incentives.
Public Interest Groups
A broader range of interests are represented by these types of interest groups. (Ex: American Civil Liberties Union, NAACP, League of Women’s Voters)
Public Interest Lobby
A political organization whose goals will principally benefit nonmembers.
Purposive Incentive
A benefit that comes from serving a cause or principle.
Quid Pro Quo
Something given with the expectation of receiving something in return.
Ratings
Many interest groups attempt to influence the overall behavior of legislators by giving them this type of assessment.
“Shotgun Approach”
A tactic used by an interest group that tries to mobilize large numbers of constituents to email, tweet, write to, etc. their legislators, president, etc.
Social Movement
A widely shared demand for change in some aspect of the social or political order.
Soft Money
Unlimited amounts of money that political parties previously could raise for party-building purposes. Now largely illegal except for limited contributions to state and local parties for voter registration and get-out-the-vote efforts.
Solidary Incentive
The social rewards (sense of pleasure, status, or companionship) that lead people to join political organizations.