The most influential groups in the United States include the National Rifle Association (national), the National Association of Realtors (nationally), the US Chamber of Commerce (nationally), National Federation of Independent Business (both nationally and in states), American Israel Public Affairs Committee (nationally), American Association of Retired Persons (nationally), Association of Trial Lawyers of America (nationally), AFL-CIO (nationally), National Beer Wholesalers Association (nationally), National Association of Manufacturers (nationally), Planned Parenthood (nationally), American Medical Association (nationally), National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (nationally), National Education Association (nationally), American Farm Bureau Federation (non-state), Motion Picture Association of America (non-state), National Association of Broadcasters (national), National Right to Life Committee (non-state), Health Insurance Association of America (national), American Bar Association (national), National Governor’s Association (national), Sierra Club (non-state), American Bankers Association (national), American Civil Liberties Union (national), and International Brotherhood of Teamsters (national).
These groups exert their influence through various strategies. For example, economic based groups influence contracts or laws that aim to offer future positive economic outcomes for their representatives (Cigler, Loomis & Nownes, 2015). These groups achieve their goals through lobbying for tax cuts, changes in laws voter mobilization, running advertisement, and donating money to the candidates they consider will benefit their interests. Professional organizations lobby for policies that they consider will benefit their members. Non-state actors such as Sierra Club focus on educating the public regarding important issues such as the environment (Berry & Wilcox, 2018). These groups also influence public opinion through the publication of their studies regarding specific issues and through disruptions such as sit-ins, riots, pickets, and strikes (Cigler, Loomis & Nownes, 2015). Another element these groups use to exert their influence is through litigations.
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The most influential groups in the world include UNESCO (global), Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (regional), Organization of American States (regional), the Arab League (regional), the International Chamber of Commerce (global), The European Association of Manufacturers of Business Machines and Information Technology (regional). Non-state groups include Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Human Rights Watch, World Wildlife Fund, Oxfam International, Greenpeace, Care, and Earth First. Foreign governments depend on such as UNESCO and regional economic groups to lobby for military support and foreign aid (Kamat, 2004). These groups can also boost the image of a country globally. NGOs mostly exert their influence through focusing on issues such as child welfare, human rights and women’s status(Kamat, 2004). These groups influence public opinion and other governments globally regarding human rights abuses, child abuses, illegal trade in ivory and other similar issues through raising awareness of the existence of those issues.
While many interest groups represent specific interests, they can sometimes interact with each other to pursue similar objectives. They build alliances to send the same message at the same time to their intended target. In turn, this interaction allows groups to draw from a wider pool of knowledge, arguments, and information, which affects the content of their message and lead to relevant messages (De Bruycker, 2014). An example of the interaction between interest groups occurred during a discussion regarding a proposal to ban seal trade in the European Union (De Bruycker, 2014). During that debate, the National Inuit organization of Canada and the International Fur Trade Federation build an alliance to lobby against the ban.
These interactions allow groups to access a wide range of policymakers and coordinate their target audience to reach different targets simultaneously. Another example of the interaction among interest groups was between children rights groups such as Save the Children, NSPCC, and MCE to combat sexual abuse among children (De Bruycker, 2014). This combination allowed both groups to be represented at nearly all official venues where the topic was debated.
References
Berry, J. M., & Wilcox, C. (2018). The interest group society . Routledge.
Cigler, A. J., Loomis, B. A., & Nownes, A. J. (Eds.). (2015). Interest group politics . CQ Press.
De Bruycker, I. (2014). How Interest Groups Develop their Lobbying Strategies. In The Logic of Endogeneity. Paper Prepared for the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) General Conference, Glasgow .
Kamat, S. (2004). The privatization of public interest: theorizing NGO discourse in a neoliberal era. Review of international political economy , 11 (1), 155-176.
