Discussion Thread: Interest Group Liberalism and Public Policy
Define “interest group liberalism.”
Explain how certain features or assumptions of interest group liberalism impact (or
may impact) debate about the public policy you are exploring.
How does (or could) your public policy research or advocacy respond to the
assumptions of interest group liberalism from the point of view of your Christian
worldview or calling?
1. Basically, Lowi (2010) is trying to explain how interest groups now hold a lot of
influence over American politics. The term liberalism is used in the traditional way
not meaning liberal/conservative. Interest-group liberalism became Lowi’s (2010)
way of labeling this new political norm. There was also this perception that interest
groups were a part of the established American political world and served the will of
the people. Therefore, Lowi’s (2010) creation of the interest-group liberalism label
was to describe this phenomenon that had become an accepted as democratic. This
theory of interest-group liberalism assumes that the different interest groups work for
the good of the people and is representative of the public interests.
2. Since the claim of interest-group liberalism is that interest groups wield this major
power and influence over American politics (Lowi, 2010), one would assume that
interest-groups for any area can make or break new policies formed in the legislature.
But that is the problem right there, there are interest groups for and against the same
issues. What will matter is which side’s interest group is more powerful, has the most
financial backing or which side’s affiliated political party is the majority. This idea
that interest-group liberalism is representative of the public interest and that all
groups will be able to obtain equal outcomes from the policy process is not accurate
because each group will not get an equal outcome (Ross, 2022). This and the concept
that interest-group liberalism assumes that morality cannot be legislated impact the
debate concerning racial disparity reform. For example, DeMora et al. (2019)
examines how the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is trying to
spread Stand Your Ground policies across the United States. This bill is being pushed
by the ALEC because they believe in a limited government and a Stand Your Ground
bill would support that belief. However, there are other studies that say this bill is not
good for the health of people in general and even more specifically, Black people
(Humphreys et al., 2017). The concept that comes with interest-group liberalism that
morality cannot be legislated influences the debate surrounding this policy. This is
one example of how the concept behind the term interest-group liberalism could and
does effect debate concerning racial disparity reform.
3. Well for one, interest-group liberalism assumes that morality cannot be legislated. But
of course, morality can be legislated, all legislation is morality to an extent.
Legislation says that we can and/or cannot do things, making something good and/or
bad. That is morality. The question would be whose morality should we legislate
when trying to keep the separation of church and state? Paul talks about how there is
a sense of good and bad (moral law) written on the hearts of all people (English
Standard Version Bible, 2016, Romans 2:14-15). This indicates that there are things
that all people recognize as good and bad, such as, murder is wrong; and these moral
codes should be enforced through rules/laws. Morality and religion are not the same
thing: religion suggests an obligation to their God and morality is an obligation or
responsibility to each other. We can impose a system of morals that are found within
all of us without imposing the morality connected to a specific religion.
References:
DeMora, S. L., Collingwood, L., & Ninci, A. (2019). The role of super interest groups in public
policy diffusion. Policy & Politics, 47(4), 513–541.
https://doi.org/10.1332/030557319x15659214258414
English Standard Version Bible. (2016). Bible Gateway.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%202%3A14-15&version=ESV
Humphreys, D. K., Gasparrini, A., & Wiebe, D. J. (2017). Evaluating the Impact of Florida’s
“Stand Your Ground” Self-defense Law on Homicide and Suicide by Firearm. JAMA
Internal Medicine, 177(1), 44. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2016.6811
Lowi, T. J. (2010). The End of Liberalism: The Second Republic of the United States. W.W.
Norton & Co.
Ross, J. (2022). Interest Group Liberalism and Public Policy. Libertyuniversity.instructure.com.
https://libertyuniversity.instructure.com/courses/200902/pages/watch-interest-group-
liberalism-and-public-policy?module_item_id=23100886
Replies:
Brannon,
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