Policy Feedback and the Polarization of Interest Groups

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Leslie K. Finger ◽  
Sarah Reckhow
Keyword(s):  
School Choice ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Private School ◽  
Policy Feedback ◽  
Policy Changes ◽  
Dominant Group ◽  
Electoral Mobilization ◽  
Education Groups ◽  
Over Time

Abstract We use the case of education interest groups to examine how and when policy changes lead interest groups to polarize in their support for political parties. Using over 145,000 campaign contributions from all 50 states from 2000 to 2017, we test whether the passage of private school choice, charter laws, and labor retrenchment policies led to the polarization of education interest groups over time. In 2000, teachers unions were the dominant group and mostly aligned with Democrats. Meanwhile, Republicans lacked support from any education groups. This pattern was consistent across states. Over time, coalitions in some states became polarized, meaning unions grew even more aligned with Democrats and reform groups with Republicans, while other states did not experience such polarization. We show that private school choice programs, but not labor retrenchment or charter laws, contributed to this changing partisan alignment. Our findings demonstrate that policy feedback can shape both the electoral mobilization and party alignments of interest groups.

scholarly journals The contingent character of interest groups–political parties’ interaction

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Laura Chaqués-Bonafont ◽  
Camilo Cristancho ◽  
Luz Muñoz-Márquez ◽  
Leire Rincón
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Interest Group ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
Issue Salience ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Explanatory Variables ◽  
Number Of Parties ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Western Democracies

Abstract This article examines the conditions under which interest groups interact with political parties. Existing research finds that interest group–political party interactions in most western democracies have become more open and contingent over time. The close ideological and formal organisational ties that once characterised these relations have gradually been replaced by alternative, more pragmatic forms of cooperation. However, most of this research stresses the importance of the structural factors underpinning these links over time and across countries, but sheds little light on the factors driving short-term interest group–party interactions. Here, by drawing on survey data on Spanish interest groups obtained between December 2016 and May 2017, this article seeks to fill this gap by taking into account party status, issue salience and a group’s resources as explanatory variables. It shows that mainstream parties are the primary targets of interest groups, that groups dealing with salient issues are more likely to contact political parties and that the groups with most resources interact with a larger number of parties.

Contentious Institutions and Party Orders in American Politics

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Hejny ◽  
Adam Hilton
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Party Politics ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Party Development ◽  
State And Society ◽  
American Party ◽  
Over Time

What are political parties, and how and why do they change? These questions are foundational to party research, yet scholars of American parties disagree about the answers. In this paper we present a new theoretical framework capable of bridging these scholarly divides and coming to terms with American party politics today. We argue that political parties should be seen as fundamentally contentious institutions. Due to their mediating position between state and society, parties are subject to rival claims of authority from a range of political actors, including elected officeholders, party officials, interest groups, and social movements. To manage intraparty contention, win elections, and govern, entrepreneurs construct and maintain party orders -- institutional and ideational arrangements that foster an operational degree of cohesion and constraint through time. Together, the dynamics of intraparty contention and the rise and fall of distinct party orders over time illuminate the patterns of American party development.

Political Economy and Partisan Government

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zaad Mahmood
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Class Analysis ◽  
Economic Support ◽  
Business Support

This is one of key chapters of the book presenting the argument of partisan government. This chapter interrogates the subnational variation in labour reforms through partisan governments and suggests regional political economy as critical to shaping orientation of partisan governments. It critically analyses the existing party-based interpretation of reform and shows that it is the instrumental interest assuaging the interests of support base that explain government orientation to labour reform. Through a caste/class analysis of political parties, the chapter highlights that significant business support and socio-economically homogeneous dominant support base characterize states with greater market flexibility. In contrast, when the dominant support base of party is heterogeneous and wide, the pace of reform is significantly muted. Partisan configuration—the socio-economic support base of government—determines not only the orientation of policies but also the interrelation between government and various interest groups in society.

The Persuasion Effects of Political Endorsements

2019 ◽  
pp. 223-242
Author(s):  
Cheryl Boudreau
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Observational Study ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Experimental Research ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Political Information ◽  
Controlled Environment ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
Open Questions ◽  
Political Persuasion

Political endorsements (recommendations about which candidate or policy to support) are ubiquitous in political contexts. They may come from political parties, interest groups, politicians, or even celebrities. Can uninformed citizens identify endorsers who share their interests and use their recommendations as substitutes for detailed political information? This chapter surveys the literature on the persuasion effects of political endorsements. It first provides an overview of theoretical models that examine how political endorsements affect citizens’ choices. Then, it describes a seminal observational study of how endorsements affect political persuasion. It next discusses experimental research that assesses the effects of endorsements. It emphasizes that experiments are particularly useful for identifying when political endorsements will persuade citizens because they allow scholars to manipulate the conditions that theoretical models identify in a carefully controlled environment. It concludes by discussing open questions about the effects of political endorsements and describing how ongoing research addresses them.

Interest Groups and Elections

2019 ◽  
pp. 339-357
Author(s):  
Jeffrey M. Berry
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Campaign Finance ◽  
Organizational Forms ◽  
Super Pacs ◽  
New Organizational Forms ◽  
Winner Take All ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Take All

The relationships between interest groups, political parties, and elections have always been dynamic, but in recent years change has accelerated in ways that have favored some interests over others. This chapter considers these developments as the result of a variety of factors, the most critical of which are the growth of polarization, a new legal landscape for campaign finance, and new organizational forms. The chapter goes on to suggest, that as bipartisanship has ebbed, elections have become winner-take-all affairs and interest groups are pushed to choose sides. The chapter further suggests that the rise of super PACs is especially notable as wealthy individuals have become increasingly important, single sources of campaign money, supplanting in part traditional interest groups, especially conventional PACs. It concludes that even as sums spent by super PACs and other interest groups have skyrocketed, the impact of their direct spending on persuading voters remains uncertain.

“Pure Milk Is Better Than Purified Milk”

2007 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 411-433 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Czaplicki
Keyword(s):  
Interest Groups ◽  
Political Interest ◽  
The Political ◽  
Organizational Practices ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Organizational Processes ◽  
Political Interests ◽  
Pure Milk ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Better Than

This article explains how pasteurization—with few outspoken political supporters during this period—first became a primary milk purification strategy in Chicago and why eight years passed between pasteurization’s initial introduction into law and the city’s adoption of full mandatory pasteurization. It expands the current focus on the political agreement to pasteurize to include the organizational processes involved in incorporating pasteurization into both policy and practice. It shows that the decision to pasteurize did not occur at a clearly defined point but instead evolved over time as a consequence of the interplay of political interest groups, state-municipal legal relations, and the merging of different organizational practices. Such an approach considerably complicates and expands existing accounts of how political interests and agreements shaped pasteurization and milk purification policies and practice.

The puzzle of parental partiality

2004 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 309-321 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin M. Macleod
Keyword(s):  
School Choice ◽  
Private Schools ◽  
Private School ◽  
Parental Partiality ◽  
Fair Chance

In this article, I offer a response to Adam Swift’s book, How Not to be A Hypocrite: School Choice for the Morally Perplexed Parent, by developing some reflections on the nature, value and limits of parental partiality. I address two main issues. First, I consider the issue of how we should interpret the character and value of parental partiality. I argue that treating parental partiality as a kind of disposition helps to illuminate its distinctive value and also explains why we tend to judge some illegitimate expressions of partiality more harshly than others. Second, I examine one of the justifications Swift views as valid for sending children to private school. I criticize Swift’s contention that parents can be justified in sending children to private schools in order to secure for them a ‘fair chance in life’.

scholarly journals Using Google Trends to Measure Issue Salience for Hard-to-Survey Populations

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 237802311876041 ◽  
Author(s):  
Volha Chykina ◽  
Charles Crabtree
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Google Trends ◽  
Immigration Policies ◽  
Issue Salience ◽  
Policy Changes ◽  
Senate Bill ◽  
Over Time

Some populations are difficult to survey. This poses a problem for researchers who want to understand what issues matter to these populations and how the salience of those concerns varies over time. In this visualization article, the authors illustrate how Google Trends can be used to examine issue salience for hard-to-survey mass populations. Applying this method to immigrant concerns over deportation, the authors show that anxieties over removal increased in response to (potential) policy changes, such as Arizona’s Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act (Senate Bill 1070) and the immigration policies that were considered in the wake of Donald Trump’s election.

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