Offers a thematic analysis of interest groups and lobbying in American politics and over the course of American political history. Explores how interest groups have organized and articulated their support for numerous issues, and have they grown to become an integral part of the U.S. political system.

Guide to Interest Groups and Lobbying in the United States offers a thematic analysis of interest groups and lobbying in American politics and over the course of American political history. It explores how interest groups have organized and articulated their support for numerous issues, and have they grown – both in numbers and range of activities – to become an integral part of the U.S. political system. Beginning with the foundations of interest groups during the late 19th Century Gilded Age, to the contemporary explosive growth of lobbying, Political Action Committees, and new forms of interest group cyberpolitics, readers are provided with multiple approaches to understanding the complex and changing interest advocacy sphere. This authoritative work from CQ Press will find an audience not only with students and scholars, but also with policy advocates.

Understanding why individuals participate in politics demands attention to more than just individual attributes and attitudes. Similarly, understanding how interest groups influence policy-making demands attention to more than just the financial donations and direct activities of Washington-based lobbyists. To answer fundamental questions about what determines when and why people participate in politics and how organized interests go about trying to influence legislative decision-making we must understand how and why political leaders recruit which members of the public into the political arena. Looking from the bottom up with survey data and from the top down with data from interest group interviews, Kenneth Goldstein develops and tests a theory of how tactical choices in a grass-roots campaign are made. In doing so, he demonstrates that outside lobbying activities deserve a place in any correctly-specified model of interest group influence, political participation, or legislative decision-making.

Interest groups and lobbyists play a crucial role in how public policy is made in the United States' representative democracy. By helping citizens organize and pursue their self-interests in the political arena, interest groups and lobbyists are an alternative but very effective form of representation. However, the adversarial nature of interest groups often fuels voter discomfort with the political process. Interest Groups and Lobbying is an accessible and comprehensive text that examines the crux of this conflict. Pulling together two areas of interest group research (why advocacy organizations form and how they are able to gain influence in Washington) DC. Thomas T. Holyoke shows students the inner workings of interest groups in the United States. Using case studies to clarify and expand on the issues surrounding lobbying and group action in federal, state, and local government, Holyoke explores how we can use interest groups and their adversarial impulse to achieve the greatest good for the greatest number of people.

With its broad spectrum of scholarship on interest groups past and present, Interest Group Politics brings together noted political scientists to provide comprehensive coverage and cutting-edge research on the role and impact of interest groups in U.S. politics, all geared to an undergraduate audience. In the wake of the Citizens United decision and the growth of lobbying into a multi-billion dollar industry, this trusted classic provides students with a guide to the influence and reach of interest groups. The Ninth Edition offers 15 new contributions on a variety of topics including organized labor, the LGBT movement, religious lobbying, the Tea Party, the tobacco industry, the role of “dark money” in campaign funding, the profession of lobbying, and advocacy and inequality. Each chapter is written by an expert in the field and carefully edited for clarity and cohesion by the editors Allan J Cigler, Burdett A. Loomis, and Anthony J. Nownes.