Exam 12: Structured Conflict: Interest Groups and Politics

Most interest groups lack structures that ensure that leaders will remain responsive to their members' wishes.

Interest groups are a crucial avenue for political participation. However, they do not function in an optimal manner. Write an essay about the four barriers to optimal functioning of interest groups. Include analysis of whether or not important sectors of society are fairly represented through interest groups.

In many western countries, interest groups in this sector have far more influence relative to the size of their memberships than other interest groups do:

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was able to end segregated schools in the United States primarily through the use of this tactic:

Most democracies, especially the United States, are true representatives of the pluralist system in action.

When the relationship between government and interest groups becomes entangled and tight with some groups having formal government sponsorship and/or special access, the system is labeled _____________________________.

In what sense is the system of interest groups in society about "structured conflict?"