Interest groups and voter ignorance

Certain interest groups are often depicted as pursuing only their self-interest. They are supposed to "push government to enact policies that benefit small constituencies at the expense of the general public". These criticisms lead to the creation of a new word: lobbying, which designates the attempts made by policymakers to influence policymakers. That perhaps explains why the excessive power of interest groups is very often feared. The last example of this kind of fear is the book by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy. In this book, the two scholars argue that the Iraq war and other decisions made by the Bush administration were decided because of pressure by the Israel lobby and that these decisions were against the general interest of the United States. Furthermore, interest groups "have increased in visibility these forty last years, whereas the parties have declined in importance". Therefore, the study of interest groups is especially interesting today and we will see more of them in this document.

[...] Interest groups can indeed “advance particular interpretations of the consequences of a legislative proposal”[xxvi] and hence help the lawmakers to convince their constituents. Furthermore, partisan interest groups are very helpful for the lawmakers when an election is coming. They provide candidates with resources for the campaign: money, staff or ideas[xxvii]. Nevertheless, interest groups can also be bad for lawmakers. Interest groups and parties indeed “compete for many of the same resources –money, identity and allegiance among political activists, and so on-“[xxviii]. [...]

[...] Groups, Interests, and U.S. Public Policy (Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 1998) Ibid. [xvi] Jeffrey M. Berry, The Interest Group Society (New York: Longman, 1997) [xvii] Ibid [xviii] Ibid [xix] R. Arnold Douglas, Citizens Control Their Representatives?” Ronald J. Hrebenar, Interest Group Politics in America (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1997) [xxi] Ibid. [xxii] R. Arnold Douglas, Citizens Control Their Representatives?” [xxiii] Richard A. Smith, “Interest Group Influence in the U.S. Congress”, in Legislative Studies Quarterly, XX February [xxiv] Ibid. [xxv] Richard F. [...]

[...] The second section examines the help given by interest groups to lawmakers regarding the information they provide to them and the third section discusses the possible negative side effects of interest groups for voter ignorance and thus democracy. I. Interest groups and the education of people First of all, why do interest groups provide information to citizens? David Truman argued in his book, The Governmental Process that “interest groups develop as societies become more complex”[vi]. Truman explains that our society became more complex because of the industrial revolution and the following specialization of labor. [...]