Basic Interests: The Importance of Groups in Politics and in Political ScienceA generation ago, scholars saw interest groups as the single most important element in the American political system. Today, political scientists are more likely to see groups as a marginal influence compared to institutions such as Congress, the presidency, and the judiciary. Frank Baumgartner and Beth Leech show that scholars have veered from one extreme to another not because of changes in the political system, but because of changes in political science. They review hundreds of books and articles about interest groups from the 1940s to today; examine the methodological and conceptual problems that have beset the field; and suggest research strategies to return interest-group studies to a position of greater relevance. |
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Contents
3 | |
Chapter Two Barriers to Accumulation | 22 |
Chapter Three The Rise and Decline of the Group Approach | 44 |
Chapter Four Collective Action and the New Literature on Interest Groups | 64 |
Chapter Five Bias and Diversity in the InterestGroup System | 83 |
Chapter Six The Dynamics of Bias | 100 |
Chapter Seven Building a Literature on Lobbying One Case Study at a Time | 120 |
Other editions - View all
Basic Interests: The Importance of Groups in Politics and in Political Science Frank R. Baumgartner,Beth L. Leech No preview available - 1998 |
Basic Interests: The Importance of Groups in Politics and in Political Science Frank R. Baumgartner,Beth L. Leech No preview available - 1998 |