The Economics of Political Parties: How They Win and Lose Elections

1. Political Parties, Interest Groups, and Elections: (Select One) 

One strength of one of the following: political parties, interest groups, or elections. 

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Interest groups have the advantage of promoting reliable freedom of expression. This stems from the fact that when an individual joins an interest group, then there it is more like what occurs when workers join unions. In contrast to a situation where one is agitating for something alone, they can easily be drowned out. In an interest group, however, one can add their ideas in the heed of forming a collective expression of the others who share a similar perspective (McCauley, 2017). This advantage therefore lends one an opportunity to track topics that are of interest to oneself. This is borne out of their impact to the life of someone. Having joined, unfavorable opinions can also receive more action and attention citing that there is collective bargain instead of doing things by oneself. 

One weakness of one of the following: political parties, interest groups, or elections. 

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Interest groups are mainly formulated for the purpose of pursuing equality for all within a nation. This is when people are offering opinions or ideas. In most circumstances, however, most have resulted in reflecting their focus more on money from the government. This is from the very fact that groups with more control over the largest number of resources may have the most influence on legislative bodies. On the other hand, interest groups operating on minimal budgets cannot be able to keep up with competition, unlike the others. In this heed, most interest groups have slowly lost their intended purpose of formation (Acocella, 2011). Many in the recent past are in pursuance of funds, a factor that has foreseen the average individual slowly losing his voice. It has also overseen legislative bodies gaining more power, citing that the interests of people are not well represented, and the voice meant to agitate for the same has slowly lost its shape. 

One option to accentuate the positive impact of the strength discussed above. 

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Interest groups should seek to further their promotion of freedom of expression. This can be enhanced by seeking for more people’s involvement in their affairs. Similarly, interest groups can further oversee this by amalgamating diverse ideas in the heed of collecting more points through they can express themselves (McCauley, 2017). In equal regard these interest groups should further their topics of interest in a manner that will oversee even more lives being impacted positively by their actions. They should equally combine with other interest groups in the heed of even enlarging their voice, and gaining more voice. Generally, the idea is to ensure that they remain large enough to oversee that the ideas of just about everyone is adequately covered and represented. Also, it is out of these large numbers that the government can be able to notice their actions on a wide scale level, a factor that ensures that perspectives drawn are addressed faster and aptly. 

One option to lessen the negative impact of the weakness discussed above. 

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Interest groups should re-focus on their very purpose of creation. This can be done by concentrating less on the result of money. Furthermore, leadership in most of the interest groups should be changed. Most of the leaders are corrupted by legislative bodies (Acocella, 2011). This is through money, in the heed of skewing their purpose of creation. In addition, these groups should further ensure that there is no legislative body that has control over their activities. This is especially when making their voices heard over matters of nation importance. 

2. Thesis Statement 

Provide a thesis statement for the final paper . It is very important that the statement focuses on the final paper and not only on the topic discussed above. The thesis statement should be a concise statement of 25 words or less that clearly identifies the main argument, theme, and purpose for the final paper. 

This paper will look at advantages and disadvantages of interest groups, and further look into a way of attenuating the advantages, and alleviating the disadvantages. 

3. Reference List (utilizing full APA citations) 

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Acocella, I. (2011). The focus groups in social research: Advantages and disadvantages.  Quality & Quantity ,  46 (4), 1125-1136.  https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-011-9600-4 

McCauley, D. (2017). Interest groups.  Oxford Handbooks Online .  https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199669691.013.19