Interest Groups - Essay Example

October 20, Interest Groups An interest group can be defined as a group of individuals who have the same objective or are working together to achieve a certain ideal. Interest groups play an important role in policy making and in pushing for the action of various bodies in given matters. These include economic matters among others (Baker and Losco, 2008). They are also important in expressing the opinion of the people and the government also relies on them to ensure that they know the complaints of the people and address their concerns appropriately.

As Ragone (director of graduate programs, University of Northern Iowa) puts it, all the members of an interest group are treated fairly and no opinion is better than the other. They are given a fair forum where everyone can pool his or her ides and then use them to change the nation or submit them to the relevant authorities. According to Hays, The main difference between economic and non-economic interest groups is that the economic interest groups aim at getting financial support for their members while the non-economic interest groups are not interested in getting benefits for their members.

Labor organizations are examples of economic interest groups. In labor groups, people who have the same interest come together and present their economic grievances as a group so that they can be addressed unlike when they could do it individually. Examples of non-economic interest groups in California include public interest groups which are formed to address the problems faced by the people without trying to solicit financial benefits from the government or any other body. Cited Work Baker, Ralph, and Losco, Joseph.

Am Gov 2008, 1st Edition. New York: McGraw Hills. 2008. Print. Hays, Allen. R. The Role of Interest Groups. Democracy papers. n.d. Web. Available at. Ragone, Nick. Types of Interest Groups. n.d. Available at.