Description
Book SynopsisA study of how money and interest group power actually affect direct legislation, this book reveals that big spending does not necessarily mean big influence. This book is a theoretical and empirical contribution to our understanding of the role of citizens and organized interests in the American legislative process.
Trade Review"Gerber's key finding—that citizen interest groups are more effective in using the initiative to alter the status quo, and that economic groups are more effective at preserving it—is an important amendment to the popular perception that interest groups now control the initiative process."
—Bruce E. Cain, University of California, Berkeley"The questions raised in
The Populist Paradox are fundamental to our understanding of elections and representation and to the roles of citizens, organized interests, and elected officials. The book is well written and extremely well organized."
—Frank R. Baumgartner, Pennsylvania State UniversityTable of ContentsList of Figures List of Tables xi Acknowledgments xiii 1. What Is the Populist Paradox? 3 A Theory of Interest Group Influence 6 Motivation: The Study of Interest Group Influence 10 Justification: Why Study Direct Legislation? 15 Plan of the Book 19 2. Interest Group Choice 21 Forms of Influence 21 Interest Group Choice 27 Achieving Influence 30 Summary and Conclusions 36 3. Direct Legislation Hurdles 37 Achieving Direct Modifying Influence 38 Achieving Direct Preserving Influence Achieving Indirect Modifying Influence 50 Achieving Indirect Preserving Influence: Opposing an Initiative to Signal the Legislature 52 Behavioral Hurdles 52 Summary and Conclusions 58 4. Group Characteristics and Resources 59 Monetary and Personnel Resources 59 Using Resources to Overcome Hurdles 60 Membership Characteristics 65 Classifying Groups and Their Resources 69 Hypotheses about Motivations and Forms of Influence 71 Summary 75 5. Motivations and Strategies 76 Methodology 76 What Do Groups Say They Do? 80 What Do Groups Actually Do? 93 Summary and Conclusions 100 6.Direct Policy Consequences 101 Direct Policy Consequences 101 Summary and Conclusions 119 7. Indirect Policy Consequences 121 State Policy Differences 122 Summary and Conclusions 136 8.The Populist Paradox: Reality Or Illusion? 137 Economic Group Limitations 137 Citizen Group Dominance 140 Implications for the Study of Direct Legislation 140 Implications for the Study Of Interest Group Influence 141 Positive versus Normative Implications 142 A Final Assessment 146 Appendixes 147 A. Direct Legislation Institutions 147 B. Survey Of Organizations 152 References 159 Index 165
