CLIVE S. THOMAS is Professor of Political Science at the University of Alaska Southeast, Juneau. He is the author of First World Interest Groups: A Comparative Perspective (Greenwood, 1993).

• PrefaceList of ContributorsIntroduction: The Study of Interest GroupsSources of Information on Interest Groups in the American Political System: An OverviewGeneral Theories of Interest Group Activity: Pluralism, Corporatism, Neo-Marxism, and Other ExplanationsInterest Groups and the Socioeconomic and Political SystemThe Origin, Organization, Maintenance, and Morality of Interest GroupsInterest Groups in National, State, Local, and Intergovernmental Politics in the United StatesInterests and Interest Groups in the Public Policy Process: (I) Strategy and TacticsInterests and Interest Groups in the Public Policy Process: (II) The Traditional Interests--Business, Labor, Agriculture, Education, and GovernmentInterests and Interest Groups in the Public Policy Process: (III) The New Interests and GroupsConcerns About Interest Groups: Questions of Democracy, Representation, Bias, and RegulationComparative Interest Group StudiesInterest Groups in Western European and Other Advanced Pluralist DemocraciesInterest Groups in Selected Non-Pluralist Regimes, Transitional Democracies, and Developing SocietiesInterest Groups in International and Transitional PoliticsConducting Research on Interest GroupsReferencesAbout the Editor and ContributorsIndex