Interest Group Power and Tactics: A Specific Study of Political Action Committees in Michigan
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Authors
Bowman, Don
Issue Date
1982
Type
Thesis
Language
en_US
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
Interest Groups have expanded in prominence in the 1980's.
The Moral Majority and the "new right" have drawn an intense
amount of interest from the populace and media coverage.
Christians, gays, environmentalists, small business and other
formerly unorganized groups have banded together believing they
can better gain their legislative goals by becoming an organized
Interest Group. This occurrence has captured the imagination and
curiosity of the populace, media and political scientists. All
three of these groups ponder the same questions. What place
do organized interest groups hold in our system? How much
power do they have to impose their legislative goals against
the general consensus?
This research is designed to provide some insight into these
basic questions. First, it provides an analysis of the development
of group theory, the intellectual framework through which
political scientists have understood and studied interest groups
for years. Special emphasis will be given to the current perception
of interest groups within the discipline, which has
centered on the nature and use of interest group tactics. Second,
it examines the use of one specific tactic, financial contr1butions
to campaigns. This is a descriptive study designed to identify
the significance of group contributions, their limitations under
Michigan law and the groups that employ the tactic most effectively.
Due to various constraints upon my efforts this analysis is by
no means comprehensive in nature, more study. is needed in this
area. However, some insight has been gained into the nature
of group tactics and the research has proven valuable.
Description
43 p.
Citation
Publisher
License
U.S. copyright laws protect this material. Commercial use or distribution of this material is not permitted without prior written permission of the copyright holder. All rights reserved.