Crandi

Customizing Strategy Policy Goals And Interest Group Strategies Spring

Leo Migdal
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customizing strategy policy goals and interest group strategies spring

Interest groups pursue a wide range of policy goals. In their attempts to realize these goals, groups may lobby bureaucrats and politicians, approach the media and engage in protest activities. This article investigates the relation between the characteristics of policy goals and the strategies of influence utilized by interest groups. Policy goals are captured by four dimensions emphasizing: (i) the divisibility of goals, (ii) the degree of change sought, (iii) the type of interests pursued, and (iv) how technical goals are. The relevance of these dimensions and the effect of goals on influence strategies are tested in a survey of national Danish interest groups. The findings support the importance of group goals as determining strategy.

Groups pursuing general interests mainly lobby parliament and the media, whereas groups with technically complicated goals lobby bureaucrats more intensively. The more divisible a goal a group is pursuing, the more actively it engages in all types of influence strategies. Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript. A fundamental raison-d’être for interest groups is to pursue policy goals. Groups are politically active because they want to see their goals fulfilled. And groups are crucial for political science because of their success with – sometimes – achieving their goals.

This basic observation points to the importance of capturing what it is groups want in politics and how the nature of policy goals affects their policy-relevant activities. When are politicians the prime target of group activities, when do groups approach bureaucrats and which goals lead groups to engage in media-directed activities? These questions inform the theoretical and empirical discussion in this article. In a political context with multiple paths to influence – notably the administrative, the parliamentary and the media arena – interest groups engage in a mix of activities expected to maximize their political influence. Here, it is argued that groups customize their political strategies to the situation at hand. Some policy goals are well suited to capture the attention of the media, whereas others are more easily raised in direct interaction with bureaucrats.

While groups may have a general preference for some strategies over others based on group history, ideology or other group characteristics (Gais and Walker, 1991; Grant, 2000a), their goals in a specific situation also... The nature of policy goals pursued is thus a central piece in charting the maneuvering of groups across political arenas. Generally, factors at three levels affect group strategic choices: the institutional level, the group level and the issue level (Dür and De Bièvre, 2007; Mahoney, 2007). While previous discussions of the issue level have focused on issue characteristics such as saliency and level of conflict (Kollman, 1998; Leech, 1998; Mahoney, 2007), this article investigates the role of the policy goals... Two groups active on the same issue can have very different goals. A business group may seek a specific change in policy that will benefit its members, while an environmental group may work to prevent such change to the benefit of the environment.

More generally, it is argued that policy goals can be classified via four dimensions: first, whether the goal pursued may only be met fully or not at all or has a more divisible nature;... These different specifications of group goals are expected to affect the influence strategies pursued. Executive Summary Interest groups pursue a wide range of policy goals. In their attempts to realize these goals, groups may lobby bureaucrats and politicians, approach the media and engage in protest activities. This article investigates the relation between the characteristics of policy goals and the strategies of influence utilized by interest groups. Policy goals are captured by four dimensions emphasizing: (i) the divisibility of goals, (ii) the degree of change sought, (iii) the type of interests pursued, and (iv) how technical goals are.

The relevance of these dimensions and the effect of goals on influence strategies are tested in a survey of national Danish interest groups. The findings support the importance of group goals as determining strategy. Groups pursuing general interests mainly lobby parliament and the media, whereas groups with technically complicated goals lobby bureaucrats more intensively. The more divisible a goal a group is pursuing, the more actively it engages in all types of influence strategies. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT] Binderkrantz, A.

S., & Krøyer, S. (2012). Customizing strategy: Policy goals and interest group strategies. Interest Groups & Advocacy, 1(1), 115–138. https://doi.org/10.1057/iga.2012.6 Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Research › peer-review Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Research › peer-review T1 - Customizing strategy: Policy goals and interest group strategies Interest groups play a crucial role in shaping policy. They come in various types, from economic to ideological, each with unique goals and structures. These groups use diverse strategies to influence lawmakers, including lobbying, campaign contributions, and grassroots mobilization.

The effectiveness of interest group tactics depends on factors like resources, political climate, and issue complexity. While some methods work better in certain situations, groups often face challenges like competing interests and legal constraints. Understanding these dynamics is key to grasping how interest groups impact congressional decision-making.

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