Description
Numerous scholars have defended the role of interest groups and their political activities in
American politics. Others have been more critical. For this assignment, I would like you to select an interest group of your choice and discuss how this interest group attempts to use its resources to influence the political process. Your paper should address the following questions: What is the background and history of the group you selected? What are its goals? How does the interest group that you selected to try to influence U.S. elections? How does it attempt to influence the legislative process? Has the interest group that you selected been mostly successful overall or has your group’s political record been more mixed? Does the experience of the interest group that you selected lend more support to the arguments advanced by pluralist theory or does it lend more support to the arguments advanced by power elite theory? Or, does neither theory seem to apply? What does the experience of the group you selected teach us about how American democracy operates?