| Interest groups exist in more or less numbers in every country. But"in no country in the world has the principle of association been more successfully used or applied to a greater multitude of objects than in America."(Alexis de Tocqueville) And interest groups are penetrating through virtually all aspects of the American life. Thus a prominent place must be given to the activities of interest groups if one is to study the United States. Obviously"the human instinct to herd together"is too superficial and arbitrary to account for the unique phenomenon that the United States is a nation of joiners. This thesis traces the origin and development of interest groups in the United States. It points out that the unparalleled proliferation of interest groups is closely related to the country's history and political system. Indeed federalism and separation of power have fueled the development of interest groups in America. The important role played by interest groups in American politics can never be overestimated. Pluralist theory maintains that group activity is an essential part of self-government and that competition among interests, in and out government, will produce policies roughly responsive to public desires, and no single set of interests will dominate. In the case of the United States, interest groups provide another means of civic participation in politics in addition to traditional parties. To some scholars interest groups based on the alignment of professions or values are the"third house."But through the case study of the National Rifle Association (the NRA) in the firearms issue the thesis points out that in a free society a small fraction of citizens might put their self-interests ahead of the general welfare of the people—a situation with which James Madison was deeply concerned in his Federalist No.10. |
