Interest Groups and their Influence on the Making of Public Policy Research Paper

Interest Groups and their Influence on the Making of Public Policy - Research Paper Example The composition of interest groups depends on the issues that the groups are concerned with. Examples of the interest groups are business organizations, labor unions, gender, professional associations, religious and public interest groups, and occupational groups. The impact of the interest groups depends on two factors: if the elected officials and bureaucratic agents are, championing public policies considered by the interest groups. Secondly, it depends on if the interest groups can be able to form organized groups through which they can lobby and influence public policies that are consistent with their mission and vision statements (Asare, 2009). Interest groups tend to thrive in a pluralistic environment and conflict ensuing from this environment translates to compromise and bargaining among the interest groups with the policymakers and the politicians. A review of literature evidence that these groups have been given names ranging from iron triangles, epistemic communities, advocacy coalition frameworks, and policy subsystem, issue, and policy networks. Though they are diverse groups, they all sought to influence the public policy in the areas they were envisioned to represent (Asare, 2009). The American government has classified the types of interest groups into three main classes based on their mission and composition: economic, public, and single use. Economic groups are aimed at providing economic benefit to their members. Examples are professional associations, business, and labor organizations. Business interest group examples are United States Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Manufacturers. An example of labor interest groups is The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), the Teamster, the United Auto Workers (UAW). Professional groups in this category include the American Bar Association (ABA), American Medical Association (AMA), and the Screen Actors Guild (SAS) (American Government).