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Essay Instructions: Write a 7-8 page paper on interest groups and how they seek to influence the making of public policy. In
your paper, in which you:
1. Define an interest group, with examples.
2. Discuss the relationship between interest groups and political parties.
3. Explain how interest groups try to influence the president and Congress as these two branches
work together to make policy.
4. Use at least seven (7) references: The textbook plus six others, excluding Wikipedia, dictionaries,
and encyclopedias.

Essay Instructions: Topic:
The ideals of popular sovereignty and pluralism are central to American democracy. Broad political participation and the free competition of ideas have always been seen as core components of a healthy democracy. Today many individuals wonder if these ideals of pluralism and popular sovereignty are being upheld. Some scholars worry that citizens do not participate enough in civic and political life. Other scholars are concerned that interest groups, rather than individuals, have a stronger voice in American democracy. In this paper, you will address the state of pluralism or popular sovereignty in the United States.

Question:
How healthy is American democracy? Provide an argument about the extent to which democracy in the United States achieves the ideals of pluralism or popular sovereignty. In constructing this argument, first define either pluralism or popular sovereignty and then describe what that concept should look like in practice. To do this, you should discuss the Federalist Papers, the Constitutional Convention, some of the readings from this course, and the literature cited below. Formulate your assessment and argument, providing specific evidence regarding the current state of American democracy.

Choose one of the following approaches:

1. Interest groups: The first approach is to focus on interest groups in a discussion about pluralism. What is the role that interest groups play in a democracy? Are interest groups essential actors in a democracy and why? In spelling out your argument you should discuss the goals and strategies of interest groups and assess how much influence you think they have in American politics. If you would like, you can focus your discussion on one specific interest group or set of interest groups, or one particular issue that affects many interest groups. For example, your paper might focus on the debates around campaign finance as a way of discussing pluralism and the role of interest groups. Or, you might deal with the question of whether interest groups have undue influence in American politics, perhaps focusing on a specific piece of legislation or political issue. Finally, a third example would be to discuss changes in the interest group community over time.

2. Popular Sovereignty: A second approach is to focus on the role of citizen participation in American democracy. Is the value of popular sovereignty upheld in our contemporary political environment? Does low voter turnout make America less democratic? Does the decline in civil society weaken American democracy? Or, is the key to a healthy democracy the opportunity to participate, rather than whether people ultimately do choose to participate? You may focus your paper on one type of participation or on participation among a certain segment of the population. For example, your paper might explore levels of political engagement among young adults (ages 25 and younger), or your paper may deal with voting rates in national elections across a number of demographic groups. Finally, a third example is to focus on the role of direct democracy (i.e. voter referendums) in American democracy.

The process of writing this paper should begin with reading one of the suggested readings below. These papers are written by political scientists, for a political science audience ??" so they may be a bit challenging to read. However, they will offer you some important background on research done on questions posed in this assignment. You should be sure to reference at least one of these articles in your paper, however, you are welcome to make use of more than one of these readings. You should also draw on other outside sources when writing this paper in order to provide solid evidence for the argument that you set forth.

Suggested Sources:

Lupia, Arthur and John G. Matsusaka. 2004. “Direct Democracy: New Approaches to Old Questions,” in Annual Review of Political Science. Vol. 7: 463-482.

Putnam, Robert. 1995. “Tuning In, Tuning Out: The Strange Disappearance of Social Capital in America.” PS: Political Science and Politics, Vol. 28: pp. 664-683

Theiss-Morse , Elizabeth and John R. Hibbing. 2005. “Citizenship And Civic Engagement,” in Annual Review of Political Science. Vol. 8: 227-249.

Tichenor , Daniel J. and Richard A. Harris 2005. “The Development Of Interest Group Politics In America: Beyond the Conceits of Modern Times,” in Annual Review of Political Science. Vol. 8: 251-270.


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Essay Instructions: you are to write a well-developed essay that use multiple sources from the course to address the question.
Refer to sources by author (and date, if appropriate); list sources at the end.

Why, do you think, the framers protected interest groups and lobbying so fully and explicitly (the 1st Amendment rights of free speech, assembly, and petition)? How should we assess the overall influence of organized interests and lobbying within the American system? At the individual level do lobbyists have too much power? How would we know? Has our system of groups/lobbying created a gridlocked society that serves individual interests, but not the society at large? In the end, propose and defend one or two major reforms to the lobbying system, or defend the status quo.
(although it’s tempting, please do not channel Nick Naylor or his son)

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Essay Instructions: This is requirement for this essay: WRITE an essay about an interest group of your choice. It should operate at the national level; avoid those that are entirely local. Choosing one with a personal connection or to which a family member or friend belongs may be a good idea. If it is not well known, include a web link. Begin your essay with a description of the interest group, then show how it fits the role criteria on pages 182-84 (These pages talk about Interest groups and the American political tradition: interest group good or evil?, the roles of interest group include representation, participation, education, agenda building, program monitory) , explain how it formed according to pages 185-88( These pages talk about how interest group form: disturbance theory, interest group entrepreneurs, who is being organized) , evaluate its resources according to pages 188-91 (these page talk about interest group resource included maintaining membership, attracting new members, the free-rider problem and lobbyists. Those pages are from The challenges of the democracy of Janda sixth edition textbook.
Display your awareness of how the group fits into American politics. For example, welfare is extremely controversial, so you need to reflect this situation by pointing out interests opposed to welfare, and how this affects your group. You appear naive if you do not mention the controversy. The essay should be 600 words long (2 pages) as a minimum.