Research Catalog

Title

Outside lobbying : public opinion and interest group strategies / Ken Kollman.

Author

Kollman, Ken, 1966-

Publication

Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, ©1998.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xiv, 215 pages : illustrations; 24 cm

Summary

• In Outside Lobbying, Ken Kollman explores why and when interest group leaders in Washington seek to mobilize the public in order to influence policy decisions in Congress. In the past, political scientists have argued that lobbying groups make outside appeals primarily because of their own internal dynamics - to recruit new members, for example. Kollman, however, grants a more important role to the need for interest group leaders to demonstrate popular support on particular issues. He interviewed more than ninety interest group leaders and policy makers active on issues ranging from NAFTA to housing for the poor.
• While he concludes that group leaders most often appeal to the public when they perceive that their stand has widespread popular support, he also shows that there are many important and revealing exceptions to this pattern. Kollman develops his theory of outside lobbying through a combination of rational choice modeling and statistical tests that compare public opinion data with data from his interviews about interest groups' policy positions and activities. The tests reveal that group leaders use outside lobbying to take advantage of pre-existing public preferences, not to recruit members or to try to generate the mere appearance of grassroots support.

Subject

• United States. Congress > Constituent communication
• United States. Congress
• Umschulungswerkstätten für Siedler und Auswanderer Bitterfeld
• Etats-Unis. Congress > Communication entre élus et électeurs
• Lobbying > United States
• Pressure groups > United States
• 05.32 public opinion
• Lobbying
• Pressure groups
• Einflussnahme
• Interessenverband
• Öffentliche Meinung
• Publieke opinie
• Pressiegroepen
• Lobbyisme
• Het Congres
• Lobbying > États-Unis
• Groupes de pression > États-Unis
• United States
• USA

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. [201]-209) and index.

Contents

Introduction -- Tactics and Strategies -- Outside Lobbying as Costly Signaling -- Public Opinion and Mobilization -- Outside Lobbying as Conflict Expansion -- Lobbying over Trade Policy -- Conclusion -- Groups and Persons Interviewed -- Questionnaire for Interest Groups -- Opinion Questions -- A Signaling Model of Outside Lobbying.

ISBN

• 0691017409
• 9780691017402
• 0691017417
• 9780691017419

LCCN

97039536

OCLC

• ocm37527731
• 37527731
• SCSB-359317

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library