| citizens’ (noneconomic) groups | Organized interests formed by individuals drawn together by opportunities to promote a cause in which they believe but that does not provide them significant individual economic benefits.
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| collective (public) goods | Benefits that are offered by groups (usually citizens’ groups) as an incentive for membership but that are nondivisible (such as a clean environment) and therefore are available to nonmembers as well as members of the particular group.
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| economic groups | Interest groups that are organized primarily for economic reasons but that engage in political activity in order to seek favorable policies from government.
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| free-rider problem | The situation in which the benefits offered by a group to its members are also available to nonmembers. The incentive to join the group and to promote its cause is reduced because nonmembers (free riders) receive the benefits (e.g., a cleaner environment) without having to pay any of the group’s costs.
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| grassroots lobbying | A form of lobbying designed to persuade officials that a group’s policy position has strong constituent support.
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| inside lobbying | Direct communication between organized interests and policymakers, which is based on the assumed value of close (“inside”) contacts with policymakers.
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| interest group | Any organization that actively seeks to influence public policy
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| interest-group liberalism | The tendency of public officials to support the policy demands of self-interested groups (as opposed to judging policy demands according to whether they serve a larger conception of “the public interest”).
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| iron triangle | A small and informal but relatively stable group of well-positioned legislators, executives, and lobbyists who seek to promote policies beneficial to a particular interest.
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| issue network | An informal and relatively open network of public officials and lobbyists who have a common interest in a given area and who are brought together by a proposed policy in that area. Unlike an iron triangle, an issue network disbands after the issue is resolved.
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| lobbying | The process by which interest-group members or lobbyists attempt to influence public policy through contacts with public officials.
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| outside lobbying | A form of lobbying in which an interest group seeks to use public pressure as a means of influencing officials.
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| political action committee (PAC) | The organization through which an interest group raises and distributes funds for election purposes. By law, the funds must be raised through voluntary contributions.
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| private (individual) good | Benefits that a group (most often an economic group) can grant directly and exclusively to individual members of the group.
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| single-issue politics | The situation in which separate groups are organized around nearly every conceivable policy issue and press their demands and influence to the utmost.
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