The Power of Interest Groups

The Power of Interest Groups

The Interest Group: The American Conservative Union

The American Conservative Union is an American political interest group that ranks politicians based on their conservative level, advocates for traditional policies, and organizes the Conservative Political Action Conference. It was formed after the 1964 presidential election by the leaders of the New Right Movement to rebuild conservatism through pro-action in the public domain and lobby the three branches of the government and the public (Ainsworth & Harward, 2019). It was active in media interviews, face-to-face appeals, campaigning, publishing informal materials, and political analysis.

The group has the power to promote the conservative ideology within the Southern Democrats’ ranks and other elements within the Republican party, raise funds for campaigns, government lobbying, issue advocacy, and political mobilization. It has gained popularity for the annual rating of politicians based on how they vote on important issues, which shows how much a lawmaker acknowledges conservative ideals. The rating system holds politicians accountable by comparing their political ideologies to voting records to determine their conservativeness level (Heaney, 2010.) Any politician with a rating of more than 80% is considered conservative. The scores also convince people to vote for a confident leader during campaigns. It engages in campaigns against treaties, thus influencing national politics.

The group draws its power from conservative leaders who promote conservative positions on issues outside and within the government through campaign fundraising, government lobbying, issue advocacy, political mobilization, and education. The traditional leaders maintain the group’s political tradition of purging the moderate Republican Party and the liberal elements. The power is both instilled in the organization and comes from citizens. The Republicans in government invest energy in the organization based on the ideals they advocate, and the ratings of politicians and citizens support power by raising concerns on policy issues.

The Change in The American Conservative Union’s Power

The American Conservative Union attained high levels of influence within Congressional and administration sources during the Regan administration as a strong interest group with shared views on conservative ideals but as a rising campaign financial influencing force. The use of ratings to measure accountability and the focus on campaigning made the group a publishing house and enabled it to pursue actions such as policymaking and publishing issue reports (Gross et al., 2011). It was actively involved in defending policies such as assisting the Contras and attacking some aspects of the Bill Clinton administration. It also helped lead a conservative interest group charge against the healthcare proposal initiated by Clinton. It played a vital role in supporting efforts to promote wrongdoing investigations such as the Whitewater issues and presidential impeachment.

Currently, the American Conservative Union’s power has declined due to two tendencies that act as catalysts (Levinson et al., 2016). One of them is the partially discredited rebuilt conservatism that continues dominating the establishment or leadership of the Republican Party because it relates to the economic interests of the party’s major donors and elites. The second tendency is a partially-revived conventional conservatism that is a significant strong force within the Republican Party because it relates to the economic interests of most of the party’s base and most of its voters.

The Difference Between Formal and Informal Interest Groups and The Type of Power Each Have

According to Erne (2017), interest groups are groups of individuals that are informally or formally structured and work to prevent or encourage alterations in public policy. They are sometimes defined as advocacy groups or special interest groups that influence public policy in ways that benefit their cause. The main categories of interest groups are cause groups, economic interests, non-associational groups, and public and private institutional interest groups. One of the differences between formal and informal interest groups is that people with authority create legal groups to unite competent individuals to collaborate and achieve a shared goal. In contrast, informal groups are created by members to meet common interests. The second difference is that formal interest groups are supervised by management officials or individuals appointed by the heads (Dieudonné, 2020). In contrast, informal interest groups are managed and run by members who unanimously choose the person responsible for uniting people.

The third difference is that formal interest groups are formed to achieve a legitimate objective (Dieudonné, 2020). In contrast, informal interest groups are created by individuals with a common interest in fulfilling their psychological and social requirements. Authority in formal interest groups flows from higher levels, whereas all members have equal authority in informal interest groups. Legal interest groups have the power to govern the behavior of members using standard rules. Conversely, informal groups have the power to dictate acceptable values, norms, and beliefs that every group member should observe. Informal groups derive their power from members, thus making it hard to abolish, whereas formal groups derive energy from people with authority.

References

Ainsworth, S. H., & Harward, B. M. (2019). Political groups, parties, and organizations that shaped America: E-N.

Dieudonné, J. (2020). Definition of formal groups. Introduction to the Theory of Formal Groups, 1-38. https://doi.org/10.1201/9780367813154-1

Erne, R. (2017). 14. Interest groups. Politics Trove. https://doi.org/10.1093/hepl/9780198737421.003.0016

Gross, N., Medvetz, T., & Russell, R. (2011). The contemporary American conservative movement. Annual Review of Sociology, 37(1), 325-354. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-081309-150050

Heaney, M. T. (2010). Linking political parties and interest groups. The Oxford Handbook of American Political Parties and Interest Groups, 568-588. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199542628.003.0030

Levinson, S. V., Parker, J., & Williams, M. S. (2016). American Conservatism. New York University Press.

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The Power of Interest Groups

For this assignment, you will choose to focus on one interest group. Choose an honest interest group and two to five resources regarding the interest group. You will need to select resources with differing viewpoints. Then, in 500-750 words, do the following:
1. Describe the type of power the interest group has. Include where the power comes from. Is the power instilled in the organization, or does it come from citizens?
2. Discuss if that power has changed over time. Has the interest group gained or lost power? Include your perceived catalyst of the gain or loss of power.
3. Discuss the difference between formal and informal interest groups. What type of power does each have?
Use two to five scholarly resources to support your explanations.
Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.