Create an Interest Group

ASSIGNMENT: In this course, you learned that forming or joining interest groups is one way that Americans can participate in the U.S. political system. Recall that interest groups are formal associations of individuals or organizations that act to advance a shared interest and often attempt to influence government decision-making and public policy. For this assignment, you will create a hypothetical interest group around a cause or issue that is of interest to you. You will establish policy goals and strategize to meet those goals. By doing so, you will apply what you’ve learned about how the U.S. political system functions and about interest group formation, strategies, and incentives.To complete the assignment, download the Create an Interest Group template and follow the directions below. You will return the completed template as your Touchstone submission. You may also download an example below.

A. Directions

Step 1: Select an issue or cause that is of interest to you, and prepare to create a hypothetical interest group that will advocate for the interest. The issue or cause could be big and national in scope (for example, gun safety); it could be small and local in scope (for example, cleanliness of the public park in your town); or anywhere in between. Note: Submissions that analyze existing, real-world interest groups will be returned ungraded.

hint

Review the Role of Interest Groups in Democracy tutorial and the Types of Interest Groups tutorial to help you reflect on the functions of interest groups.

Once you’ve selected an issue or cause, think about your goals and what you would want your interest group to accomplish. Talk to friends, family, or community members, or research on the Internet to learn more about the issue.

Step 2: Download the Create an Interest Group template and review the prompts. Think about the specific policy and membership goals of your hypothetical interest group, the barriers to achieving those goals, and the strategies that would best lead you to success.

hint

Keep in mind that the best strategies may be different for different interest groups, and may depend on how much public or political support exists for your goals, the membership base for your interest group, and how much money and political influence your group is likely to have.

hint

Prepare to respond to the prompts by reviewing the Interest Group Strategies tutorial and the Factors that Influence the Power of Interest Groups tutorial.

Step 3: Fill in the Create an Interest Group template. You will respond to the following prompts. Remember to include in-text citations when summarizing, quoting, paraphrasing, or including statistics or data from outside information sources! Visit the APA Style: Citation Help resource for help with in-text citations and references.

• Your Interest Group
  • In approximately 6-8 sentences, give your hypothetical interest group a name, and describe the issue or cause it supports or opposes and why.
  • What type of interest group is it?

• Goals
  • What are your specific policy goals? Specify at least 2.
  • Which level(s) of government and which government branch(es) will you target, and why?
  • Is there one political party that might be more receptive to your goals? Why or why not?
  • What barriers exist to meeting your goals? Specify 2 or more. Examples might include the free rider problem, lack of popular support, lack of political support, financial barriers, or others.
  • How might your group overcome each of those barriers?

• Membership
  • Who will you target for membership and how will you grow it?
  • What sorts of incentives can your interest group provide?

• Actions
  • Choose two inside lobbying approaches and two outside lobbying approaches that your interest group will use. Explain how each will contribute to the goals. You can choose from the menu provided (below), or brainstorm your own ideas.

Inside Lobbying	Outside Lobbying
Hire a professional lobbyist	Hold protest demonstrations or rallies
Testify at congressional committee meetings or before the full legislature	Place stories or articles in the media
Provide research or information to congresspersons	Issue press releases
Meet with government officials	Enter a coalition with other groups
Submit draft legislation to legislators	Ask members to contact their representatives
File lawsuits or legal briefs (e.g., amicus curiae briefs)	Publish ratings of legislators, other elected officials, or political candidates
Try to influence agency or judicial appointments	Mold public opinion and spread awareness through social media
Donate to political campaigns	Spearhead get-out-the-vote campaigns

• References (include, as needed, for any sources cited)

Checklist for Success:

❒ Did you review the suggested tutorials? ❒ Did you create a hypothetical interest group (i.e., not analyze an existing one)? ❒ Did you fill in all sections of the Create an Interest Group template? ❒ Did you review the grading rubric and compare it to your response? ❒ Did you review the example Create an Interest Group submission to see an example of a completed assignment? ❒ Did you include in-text citations when summarizing, quoting, paraphrasing, or including statistics or data from outside information sources? ❒ Did you proofread your work for proper grammar, punctuation, spelling, and capitalization?

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B. Rubric

	Advanced (100%)	Proficient (85%)	Acceptable (75%)	Needs Improvement (50%)	Non-performance (0%)
Your Interest Group A hypothetical interest group is described. (15%)	Clearly describes the interest group’s issue or cause in 6-8 sentences, and accurately identifies the interest group type.	Clearly but briefly describes the interest group’s issue or cause, and accurately identifies the interest group type.	Describes the interest group’s issue or cause, but the description is somewhat vague, or the interest group type is somewhat inaccurate.	Description of the interest group’s issue or cause is unclear and the interest group type is wholly inaccurate.	Does not describe the interest group’s issue or cause, or submits so little work that no credit can be given.
Policy Goals Policy goals are set with plans to achieve them. (15%)	Sets at least 2 policy goals and clearly explains plans to achieve them. Explanation demonstrates a strong understanding of the branches of government, the separation of powers, and U.S. political parties.	Sets at least 2 policy goals and explains plans to achieve them, but the description may be less clear and specific. Explanation demonstrates a moderate understanding of U.S. government and political parties.	Sets 1-2 policy goals and explains plans to achieve them, but the description may be less clear and specific. Explanation demonstrates a limited understanding of U.S. government and political parties.	Sets at least 1 policy goal and explains plans to achieve it. Explanation demonstrates little to no understanding of U.S. government and political parties.	Does not describe policy goals or plans to achieve them, or submits so little work that no credit can be given.
Barriers Barriers and strategies to overcome them are considered. (15%)	Considers 2 or more barriers to meeting the interest group’s goals and identifies relevant strategies for overcoming these barriers.	Considers 2 or more barriers to meeting the interest group’s goals and identifies at least 1 relevant strategy for overcoming these barriers.	Considers 1-2 barriers to meeting the interest group’s goals, but the relevance of the strategy or strategies for overcoming these barriers may be unclear.	Considers 1 barrier to meeting the interest group’s goals, but offers no relevant strategy for overcoming the barrier.	Does not consider barriers or strategies to overcome them, or submits so little work that no credit can be given.
Membership Membership and incentives are discussed. (20%)	Discussion of membership plans and incentives demonstrates a strong understanding of their relationship to interest group type and goals.	Discussion of membership plans and incentives demonstrates a moderate understanding of their relationship to interest group type and goals.	Discussion of membership plans and incentives demonstrates a limited understanding of their relationship to interest group type and goals.	Discussion of membership plans and incentives demonstrates little to no understanding of their relationship to interest group type and goals.	Does not discuss membership plans or incentives, or submits so little work that no credit can be given.
Actions Appropriate lobbying tactics are selected and rationalized. (25%)	2 inside and 2 outside lobbying tactics that are appropriate to the interest group’s goals, barriers, and membership profile are clearly identified and rationalized.	3-4 lobbying tactics that are appropriate to the interest group’s goals, barriers, and membership profile are identified and mostly rationalized.	2-4 lobbying tactics that are appropriate to the interest group’s goals, barriers, and membership profile are identified and somewhat rationalized.	2-4 lobbying tactics are identified, but they may be inappropriate for the interest group’s goals, barriers, and membership profile, or are poorly rationalized.	0-1 lobbying tactics appropriate for the interest group’s goals, barriers, and membership profile are identified and rationalized, or submits so little work that no credit can be given.
Conventions Submission follows conventions for standard written English and meets requirements. (10%)	There are almost no errors in grammar, punctuation, spelling, and capitalization; all length and formatting requirements are met.	There are minor errors in grammar, punctuation, spelling, and capitalization that do not impede readability; length and formatting requirements are nearly met.	There are frequent errors in grammar, punctuation, spelling, and capitalization that somewhat impede readability; length and formatting requirements are nearly met.	There are consistent errors in grammar, punctuation, spelling, and capitalization that significantly impede readability; length and formatting requirements are not met.	Submission does not meet the minimum threshold for points to be awarded.

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C. Requirements

The following requirements must be met for your submission to be graded:

• Submission must include your name and the date.
• Use a readable 11- or 12-point font.
• Composition must be original and written for this assignment and all writing must be appropriate for an academic context.
• Plagiarism of any kind is strictly prohibited.
• Acceptable file formats include .doc or .docx file.