Texas A&M
University, Spring term 1998
Wednesdays,
911:50 AM
Prof. Frank
Baumgartner
Office: 2061
Bush
Phone: 8455021
Email:
frankb@polisci.tamu.edu
Office hours:
Mondays, Wednesdays 34 PM and by appointment
This course will
cover a range of theoretical and empirical literature on interest groups in
American politics. Topics covered will include who joins groups and why,
collective action dilemmas, social movements, lobbying, groups in election
campaigns, the growth of the interest-group system over time, the policymaking
roles of groups, policymaking systems, and theories of democracy based on
representation through the group system. In addition, we will consider the
development of the literature on groups over the decades and its impact on the
broader discipline.
Each week in the
following list of readings includes a major book on one aspect of the
interest-group system or a series of related articles and chapters. Class
participation and writing assignments will be organized as follows: Each week,
I will distribute a list of discussion points for the following weeks
readings. Each student will be asked to prepare a paper of a maximum of 5 pages
in length (double-spaced) about every other week. Each student must write seven
of these short papers during the semester, but you have some freedom to choose
the weeks when you write. These papers will be due in my mail box at noon on
Tuesdays, the day before class. The topics will be chosen to encourage students
to consider various aspects of the research reported in the book or readings
for that week, how these relate to readings that we will have accomplished in
previous weeks, or criticisms of the work. The list of paper assignments will
then also constitute an agenda for discussions in the seminar. Students not
writing a paper that week should nonetheless consider the topics as they do the
reading, and come to class prepared to discuss each of them, as well as other
topics that occur to them. Students writing papers in a given week will be
asked to initiate discussion in class, or to explain parts of their papers.
Students will
also write a term paper. For first-year students, this should be a critical and
analytical literature review covering a particular area of the interest-group
literature. Topics might include such things as research on overcoming the
collective action dilemma; policy subsystems; lobbying tactics; why individuals
join groups; normative elements of interest-group democracy; social movements;
the pluralism and elitism debate; interest groups and political parties;
political action committees and electoral politics; or any other major aspect
of the literature. Literature review papers should cover all the major pieces
of published work on the topic and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the
research. They should establish a summary of the state of knowledge in the
field and analyze the reasons why researchers have come to the conclusions they
have reached. Further, these papers should end with an assessment of the
directions that future research should take. There is no specific requirement
in terms of length, but these should be substantial reviews, allowing you to
cover in considerable detail a body of literature in an area that interests
you. As a rule of thumb, I would be surprised to see any papers shorter than 30
pages.
Those students
who choose to may write an original research paper, a detailed research design,
or another type of empirical paper. This may be especially appropriate for more
advanced students. These original research projects should review the relevant literature,
pose an important research problem or series of questions, and address them
with original analyses, using an existing dataset, with an original data
collection effort, or with a research design and proposal. Those students
considering an empirical research paper should decide on a topic within the
first few weeks of the semester and discuss the topic with me in detail, since
these papers tend to involve considerable investments in time. I will expect to
meet with each student several times during the semester in my office to
discuss term paper proposals, review outlines, and to suggest further readings.
I encourage you not to work in isolation, but to discuss your project with me
as many times as you like.
Grades will be
calculated according to the following formula. Note the importance of class
participation:
25% Class
participation
35 Short
papers during the term
40 Term paper (due on the last day of
class)
100% Total
Books for purchase:
Banaszak, Lee Ann. 1996. Why Movements Succeed or Fail: Opportunity, Culture, and the Struggle for Woman Suffrage. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Baumgartner, Frank R., and Beth L. Leech.
1998. Basic Interests: The Importance of
Groups in Politics and in Political Science. Princeton: Princeton
University Press.
Chong, Dennis. 1991. Collective Action and the Civil Rights Movement. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press.
Gaventa, John. 1982. Power and Powerlessness. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
Hansen, John Mark. 1991. Gaining Access: Congress and the Farm Lobby,
19191981. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Heinz, John P., Edward O. Laumann, Robert
L. Nelson, and Robert H. Salisbury. 1993. The
Hollow Core: Private Interests in National Policymaking. Cambridge: Harvard
University Press.
McAdam, Doug, John D. McCarthy, and Mayer
N. Zald, eds. 1996. Comparative
Perspectives on Social Movements. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Olson, Mancur. 1965. The Logic of Collective Action. Cambridge: Harvard University
Press.
Walker, Jack L. 1991. Mobilizing Interest Groups in America.
Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Weekly topics and reading assignments:
Week 1. January 21. Introduction
No readings
Week 2. January 28.
Classics of Pluralism
Truman, David B. 1951. The
Governmental Process: Political Interests and Public Opinion. New York:
Alfred A. Knopf, ch. 1, 3-7, 16 (pp. 3-13, 45-210, 501-36.)
Dahl, Robert A. 1961. Who Governs? New Haven:
Yale University Press, ch. 1, 8, 12, 19, 2428 (pp. 18, 89103, 1635, 2238,
271325.)
Schattschneider, E. E. 1960. The
Semi-Sovereign People. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, ch. 14, 8
(pp. 177, 12942).
Walker, Jack L., Jr. 1966. A Critique of
the Elitist Theory of Democracy. American Political Science Review 60:
28795.
Dahl, Robert A. 1966. Further Reflections
on The Elitist Theory of Democracy. American Political Science Review 60:
296305.
Walker, Jack L., Jr. 1966. A Reply to
Further Reflections on The Elitist Theory of Democracy. American Political Science
Review 60: 3912.
McFarland, Andrew S. 1987. Interest
Groups and Theories of Power in America.
British Journal of Political Science 17:
12947.
Week 3. February 4. Olsons
Bombshell from Economics
Olson, Mancur. 1965. The Logic of Collective Action. Cambridge: Harvard University
Press.
Week 4. February 11.
Dealing with the Olsonian Dilemma
Salisbury, Robert H. 1969. An Exchange
Theory of Interest Groups. Midwest Journal of Political Science 13:
132.
Moe, Terry M. 1981. Toward a Broader View
of Interest Groups. Journal of Politics 43: 53143.
Walsh, Edward J., and Rex H. Warland.
1983. Social Movement Involvement in the Wake of a Nuclear Accident: Activists
and Free Riders in the TMI Area. American
Sociological Review 48: 76480.
Hansen, John Mark. 1985. The Political
Economy of Group Membership. American
Political Science Review 79: 7996.
Crenson, Matthew A. 1987. The Private
Stake in Public Goods: Overcoming the Illogic of Collective Action. Policy Sciences 20: 25976.
Rothenberg, Lawrence S. 1988.
Organizational Maintenance and the Retention Decision in Groups. American
Political Science Review 82: 112952.
Dawes, Robyn M., John M. Orbell, Randy T.
Simmons, and Alphons J.C. van de Kragt. 1986. Organizing Groups for Collective
Action. American Political Science Review
80: 11785.
Week 5. February 18.
Non-Decisions and Power
Bachrach, Peter, and Morton Baratz. 1962.
The Two Faces of Power. American Political Science Review 56:
94752.
Gaventa, John. 1982. Power and Powerlessness. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
Week 6. February 25. Mass
Participation, Bias, and the Sources of Groups
Schlozman, Key Lehman, Sidney Verba, and
Henry E. Brady. 1995. Participations Not a Paradox: The View from American Activists.
British Journal of Political Science
25: 136.
Baumgartner, Frank R., and Jack L.
Walker. 1988. Survey Research and Membership in Voluntary Associations. American Journal of Political Science
32: 90828.
Curtis, James E., Edward G. Grabb, and
Douglas E. Baer. 1992. Voluntary Association Membership in Fifteen Countries: A
Comparative Analysis. American
Sociological Review 57: 12952.
Schlozman, Kay Lehman. 1984. What Accent
the Heavenly Chorus? Political Equality and the American Pressure System. Journal
of Politics 46: 100632.
Putnam, Robert D. 1995. Tuning In, Tuning
Out: The Strange Disappearance of Social Capital in America. PS 28:66483.
Lowery, David, and Virginia Gray. 1995.
The Population Ecology of Gucci Gulch, or the Natural Regulation of Interest
Group Numbers. American Journal of
Political Science 39: 129.
Salisbury, Robert H. 1984. Interest
Representation: The Dominance of Institutions. American Political Science
Review 78: 6476.
Week 7. March 4. The Power
of Citizen Groups
Jeff
Berry special guest. Readings will include Berrys book manuscript, for
comments and discussion. Note: Class will have to be scheduled on Friday March
6 in order to accommodate Prof. Berry. Book
manuscript will be available at a local copy shop.
Week 8. March 11. Collective
Action and Social Movements: A dissertation project
Chong,
Dennis. 1991. Collective Action and the
Civil Rights Movement. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Spring
Break: Week of March 18
Week 9. March 25. Another
dissertation: Access and Influence
Hansen, John Mark. 1991. Gaining Access: Congress and the Farm Lobby,
19191981. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Hall, Richard L., and Frank W. Wayman.
1990. Buying Time: Moneyed Interests and the Mobilization of Bias in
Congressional Committees. American Political Science Review 84:
797820.
Week 10. April 1. Patrons,
Professions, and Social Movements
Walker, Jack L. 1991. Mobilizing Interest Groups in America.
Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Week 11. April 8. The
Importance of Policy Domains
Heinz, John P., Edward O. Laumann, Robert
L. Nelson, and Robert H. Salisbury. 1993. The
Hollow Core: Private Interests in National Policymaking. Cambridge: Harvard
University Press.
Week 12. April 15. Another
Dissertation: How Women Got the Vote
Banaszak, Lee Ann. 1996. Why Movements Succeed or Fail: Opportunity,
Culture, and the Struggle for Woman Suffrage. Princeton: Princeton
University Press.
Week 13. April 22.
Comparative Studies of Social Movements and the Literature from Sociology
(Meet on Monday or Tuesday this week;
Midwest Pol Sci Meetings in Chicago.)
McAdam, Doug, John D. McCarthy, and Mayer
N. Zald, eds. 1996. Comparative
Perspectives on Social Movements. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Granovetter, Mark. 1978. Threshold Models
of Collective Behavior. American Journal
of Sociology 83: 142043.
Week 14. April 29. Review
and critique of the state of the field
Baumgartner, Frank R., and Beth L. Leech.
1998. Basic Interests: The Importance of
Groups in Politics and in Political Science. Princeton: Princeton
University Press.
Term Papers Due Today