Political Science Homework: Response to Interest Groups Analysis

This assignment delves into the realm of interest groups, exploring their definition as organizations formed around shared concerns to influence public policy. It highlights lobbying as a key method used by these groups and differentiates various types, including economic, private, and public institutional groups. The paper then contrasts pluralism, characterized by multiple principles and diversity, with corporatism, a system of interest representation involving organized categories recognized by the state. The core difference lies in the representational monopoly and state control. The assignment also distinguishes between interest groups and social movements, emphasizing the latter's focus on social and moral issues and critical stance towards bureaucratic solutions. The paper references academic sources to support its arguments, providing a comprehensive overview of these crucial concepts in political science.

Running Head: RESPONSE TO QUESTIONS ON INTEREST GROUPS
Response to questions on Interest Groups
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1RESPONSE TO QUESTIONS ON INTEREST GROUPS
Interest Groups or Special Interest Groups are known as an organization, that has been
organized formally based on shared concerns that maybe one or more than one, and attempts to
create some kind of influence in favor of public policy (Petracca 2018). The goal of every
interest group is to have the desired effect on the government policies for benefitting their own
causes. It might be meant for a single member of the group or a particular section of the society,
such as the subsidies provided by the government to the farmers or a policy meant for the greater
good of the public, such as improvement of water supply and its quality. Lobbying is one of the
most common methods that are applied by interest groups in order to build up the pressure of the
makers of the policy for turning the outcome in their favor. For example,- the growth of interest
groups can be traced as an outgrowth of any community of interest, which exists in every
society. It ranges from the Japan Eraser Manufacturers Association to much bigger groups such
as the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organization (AFL-CIO) and the
military. There are various kinds of interest groups, such as economic interest groups, private
and public institutional interest groups, etc. (Petracca 2018).
Pluralism has a common definition that states the scenario of having more than one of
anything. According to this definition, Ukraine can be described as a country that is pluralistic in
nature. The reason for the pluralistic nature of the country is rooted in its regional as well as
political diversity. Another definition of pluralism can e found in the medieval Roman Catholic
Church, where it means to hold the office that is more than one in number or a benefice in a
particular time. Philosophy, too, has defined pluralism in its own terms (M.D. 2017). It is known
to be the recognition of multiple principles instead of a singular one. Such as the belief of
Aristotle in human actions being aimed at achieving happiness. Pluralism comes closest to its
dictionary definition when the reference to the new Canadian center is drawn where it states that

2RESPONSE TO QUESTIONS ON INTEREST GROUPS
pluralism aims to connect with one another with the aim of learning from each other and
contributing to building a future together. However, pluralism is not a very new concept. The
roots of it can be traced back to the ancient philosophers in the West as well as the East. It was a
school of thought that saw its flourish between the year 470 and 390 BC (M.D. 2017). Although
it was termed as Mohism, it encouraged the idea of loving each other without any preset
conditions- mostly, it was encouraged to avoid any form of conflict. Corporatism, on the other
hand, is defined as a system of representation of interest where the various constituent units have
been organized in a fixed number of categories, namely- singular, compulsory, non-competitive,
hierarchical, and functional. These also need to be recognized as well as licensed under the state
and thereby granted with a sense of deliberate representation of monopoly (Cohen and
Pavoncello 1987). This mostly exists within the respective categories. However, it is in exchange
for carrying out observation of certain control on some sections of selected leaders as well as the
articulation of their demands along with support. Hence, it implies that in a situation when any
interest group is granted a monopoly in the representation, the state shall have to interfere in
terms of regulating and monitoring the most important functions of those concerned groups.
However, the definition of pluralism does not contain any such implication (M.D. 2017). In
situations when there is no representational monopoly, there would be no control of the state
over those interest groups. When the two definitions, along with their conditions, are taken into
consideration, it implies that the granting of any monopoly that is representational in nature is
sufficient. However, it is not necessary criteria that need to be is not a necessary condition for the
state to fulfill in order to have control over the important functions of interest group associations.
Early advocates of corporatism are found in the United States, such as Theodore Roosevelt,
Edward Hurley, and John D. Rockefeller Jr (Cohen and Pavoncello 1987).

3RESPONSE TO QUESTIONS ON INTEREST GROUPS
The major difference between interest groups and social movement lies in the
organization's social movement, which is referred to as a variety of political as well as collective
social actions (Tilly 2019). The focus remains on issues such as gender inequality, freedom of
sexuality, healthcare, civil rights, anti-fascism, etc. These movements have their focus on issues
that have a moral as well as social nature. They also hold critical attitudes towards any
bureaucratic as well as state solutions (publish.uwo.ca. 2020).

4RESPONSE TO QUESTIONS ON INTEREST GROUPS
Reference
Cohen, Youssef, and Franco Pavoncello. "Corporatism and Pluralism: A Critique of Schmitter's
Typology." British Journal of Political Science 17, no. 1 (1987): 117-22. Accessed March 13,
2020. www.jstor.org/stable/193968.
M.D. 2017. "What Is Pluralism?". The Economist. https://www.economist.com/the-economist-
explains/2017/05/23/what-is-pluralism.
Petracca, Mark P. "The rediscovery of interest group politics." In The politics of interests, pp. 3-
31. Routledge, 2018.
publish.uwo.ca. 2020. "Interest Groups And Social Movements". Publish.Uwo.Ca.
http://publish.uwo.ca/~jnewman/interest_groups_and_social_movements.htm.
Tilly, Charles. Social Movements, 1768-2004. Routledge, 2019.