published_or_final_version / Politics and Public Administration / Master / Master of Philosophy

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1967. / Typescript. Vita. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1974. / Typescript. Vita. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 483-496).

This thesis presents a theoretical conceptualization and operationalization for a forthcoming empirical study of the adaptiveness of business associations, labor unions, and environmental organizations to social change since 1960. These three types of interest organizations are selected because they are particularly likely to have become targets of increased popular demands for environmental protection, a value change that has constituted one of the most important aspects of social change during the last three decades. / Master of Arts

Public interest groups, environmental nonprofit organizations (ENPOs) among them, play a large role in the formulation and implementation of public policy. Much of their legitimacy comes from their claim that they represent their members' interests. This thesis examines ENPO communication forms to ascertain whether and how ENPOs seek their members' opinions, and if so, whether or not those opinions influence the ENPOs' issue-focus selection process, which is the issues on which the ENPO's financial and human resources will be expended. The research addresses these questions at two related levels of representation: internal to the organization (e. g., how do ENPOs seek their members' opinions) and inter - organizational (e.g., what role do ENPOs play in the political arena). On the level of internal democracy, elitist theory and Seymour Martin Lipset's "factors that encourage organizational democracy" provide a base for interpreting the results. At the inter-organizational level both pluralist and elitist theories of democratic governance provide the base for interpretation of the results. Finally, speculation is made about ENPO membership as "symbolic" political participation The results suggest that support for both pluralist and elitist interpretation of both internal and inter-organizational democracy may be appropriate. All ENPOs use a variety of communication forms to inform their members, and all ENPO survey respondents stated that they are open to membership suggestions. The findings also suggest that another appropriate interpretation of ENPO membership may be that membership is a symbolic purchase of political participation. / Master of Urban Affairs

Why do interest groups participate in state courts of last resort by filing amicus curiae briefs? Are they influential when they do? This dissertation examines these questions using an original survey of organized interests that routinely participate in state supreme courts, as well as data on all amicus curiae briefs and majority opinions in over 14,000 cases decided in all fifty-two state supreme courts for a four year period. I argue that interest groups turn to state judiciaries to achieve the dual goals of influencing policy and organizational maintenance, as amicus briefs can help organized interests achieve both outcomes. Furthermore, I contend that amicus briefs are influential in shaping judicial policy-making through the provision of legally persuasive arguments. The results suggest that interest groups do file amicus briefs to both lobby for their preferred policies and to support their organization's long-term viability. Additionally, the results indicate that organized interests also participate in counteractive lobbying in state courts of last resort by filing amicus briefs to ensure their side is represented and to dull the effect of oppositional amici. The findings also demonstrate support for the influence of amicus briefs on judicial policy-making on state high courts, as amicus briefs can influence the ideological direction of the court's majority opinions. Overall, this research extends our understanding of interest group lobbing in the judiciary and in state policy venues, and provides insight into judicial politics and policy-making on state courts of last resort.

This study investigates the phenomenon of ethnic interest groups as domestic sources of influence on the making of foreign policy on a cross-national basis. The attempt is made first to develop a framework for comparing theoretically the role of ethnic groups in various governmental systems. Once completed, the various conceptual assumptions are applied to the activities of domestic ethnic interest groups in the United States and Canada concerned with policy for the Middle East and the Arab-Israel conflict. The focus is primarily on the American and Canadian pro-Israel lobbies during the period between October 1973 and September 1982. Data for domestic Arab ethnic constituencies are also considered where relevant, but more as logical counter-points to the North American Jewish communities than as bases for full and complete cross-ethnic comparison. The principal objective of this study is to compare the political influence of two interest groups of the same faith and fundamental purpose but of different systems of government and political cultures.

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