This course will examine the role of interest organizations in all of their varied forms – social movements, institutions, associations, and membership groups – in politics at all levels. In doing so, we will examine theories and empirical research on how organized interests organize in the first place, are governed internally, enter and then interact with each other within populations or interest communities, and seek to influence government policy through electoral activity and lobbying legislatures, executives, and courts. Our analysis will be intentionally comparative, focusing on the full range of interest systems found in democratic political systems running from neo-corporatist to pluralist systems. Throughout, we will seek to determine if organized interests ultimately undermine or facilitate the play of democratic politics. Finally, we will consider a number of reform proposals to either control or enhance the influence of organized interests in American politics. The objective of the course, then, is to become familiar with the full range of issues about the politics of organized interests in both pluralist and neo-corporatist political systems.
Coordinator
Prof. Dr. D. Lowery will replace Dr Rasmussen
Teaching format
The course will be conducted through a mix of lecture and discussion, with an emphasis on the latter. Students are expected to contribute significantly to these discussions based on regular attendance and prior reading of all class assignments.
Study Materials
Two texts are assigned for the course and are listed below. The third text listed below is not required, but students may find it a useful supplement to the material covered in the course. However, much of our reading will be the professional journal literature on organized interests (available via Blackboard), something that is especially true for the literature on European interest systems. Several articles per week will be assigned, with significantly more articles assigned for research masters students than for one-year masters students.
Christine Mahoney, 2008. Brussels versus the Beltway: Advocacy in the United States and the European Union. Washington D.C.: Georgetown University Press.
Frank R. Baumgartner and Beth Leech, 1998. Basic Interests: The Importance of Groups in Politics and in Political Science. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
David Lowery and Holly Brasher. 2004. Organized Interests and American Government. Boston, Massachusetts: McGraw Hill.
Examination
One-year masters students will over the course of the term prepare a paper following a specific interest organization of their choice through all of the topics on interest representation discussed in the course. Research masters students will prepare a research proposal under the direction of the instructor.
Schedule
T.B.A.
This schedule is subject to change.
Latest update: March 17th, 2011