Selected Aspects in the Development of Political Interest Groups (PDF)

Seminar paper from the year 2008 in the subject American Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 2,0, Martin Luther University (Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik - Fachbereich American & British Studies), course: Einführung in die USA-Studien: American Government and U.S. Political Culture, 22 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: Whether one regards the upcoming presidential elections in 2008 or any congressional election
in the recent past, it is almost impossible to neglect the importance and influence of the
organized interest in the political system of the United States. Both economic groups such as
business groups, labor unions, the farmers and professional groups and non-economic groups
like single and public interest groups, ethnic and idealistic groups or the intergovernmental lobby
play an essential role in the political process. For instance, lobbying organizations play an
essential role for the candidates in their election campaigns. They contribute a potential source of
financial support. In order to persuade the candidates of representing their particular interest,
they distribute huge amounts of money to their chosen candidate or party.
This paper approaches the historical development of lobbying in the history of the United States
and investigates how its deep embedding into American politics was made possible. Making this
more clearly, the evolvements is divided into four main eras: The historical roots of the
development of interest groups; conditions and tendencies leading to plurality; the early 20th
century: The first era of organization and the 1960’s and 70’s: The rise of initiatives and interest
groups.
Explaining their development, it is on the one hand essential to note down the basic conditions
that served as a fundament and helped to create a unique political situation in which active
participation by organized interest was realizable. This can most usefully be approached by
examining some of the most prominent historical documents in U.S. history. On the other hand,
the implementation of this political participation and its change throughout the history has to be
analyzed. Also, it needs to be approached how interest groups came into being by referring to the
several types of organizations and the founding of particular groups as representative examples
for the categories they belong to is going to be presented, as well.

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