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Interest groups influence every government around the world, but what exactly are they, and how do they go about their work? This compilation of the major research, literature, and possible future directions of the study of interest groups is an excellent introductory resource for scholars and students in political science and related fields. Thoroughly cross-referenced and thematically organized, more than 200 entries detail the main topics of interest group activity in the United States and around the world.Following an introductory chapter that explains the format and content of the book, and a review of the development of interest group research, the entries are organized into 14 distinct chapters, each of which focuses on an area of significant research on various facets of group activity. A number of chapters deal with how interest groups form, dissolve, and work. More theoretically oriented chapters provide a wealth of information about the greater role interest groups play in society, and the various stances on whether those roles benefit or harm political life. Uniquely, special attention is paid to interest group activity in other countries, and to group activity that crosses international boundaries and political systems. A comprehensive bibliography concludes this useful volume.
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