Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T14:58:17.722Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Temporal Change in the Density of State Interest Communities: 1980 to 2007

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2021

David Lowery ,
Virginia Gray  and
John Cluverius
David Lowery*
Affiliation:
Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, USA
Virginia Gray
Affiliation:
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
John Cluverius
Affiliation:
University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA, USA
*
David Lowery, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA. Email: dlowery@me.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Two very different kinds of models—cross-sectional models based on the logic of island biogeography and time series models of density dependence—are used to understand interest system density. While they share much in common, it is not at all clear how results derived from cross-sectional models are to be understood in terms of the temporal focus of the time series approach. Thus, the first purpose of this article is to more thoroughly think through how these two modeling strategies and their empirical findings are related to each other. We empirically assess several theoretical conjectures about the relationship of the two modeling strategies by adding a temporal element to the typical cross-sectional analysis of state interest systems via modeling density dependence pooled across four cross-sections from 1980, 1990, 1997, and 2007. By doing so, we add to the literature on state interest system density by examining how it has changed since 1980. Finally, we discuss the nature of this change and what it implies for the temporal development of state interest communities, the second focus of this analysis.

Keywords

interest groups and electionspolitical behaviorinterest groupsparties and interest groupslobbyingparties and interest groupseconomic policypublic policypolitical economy
Type
Research Article
Information
State Politics & Policy Quarterly , Volume 15 , Issue 2 , June 2015 , pp. 263 - 286
Copyright
The Author(s) 2015

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aldrich, Howard E., Zimmer, Catherine R., Staber, Udo H., and Beggs, John J.. 1994. “Minimalism, Mutualism, and Maturity: The Evolution of the American Trade Association Population in the 20th Century.” In Evolutionary Dynamics of Organizations, eds. Baum, Joel A. C. and Singh, Jitendra V.. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 223–39.Google Scholar
Berry, Jeffrey M. 1999. The New Liberalism. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.Google Scholar
Berry, Jeffrey M., Baumgartner, Frank, Hojnacki, Marie, Leech, Beth L., and Kimball, David C.. 2009. Lobbying and Policy Change: Who Wins, Who Loses, and Why. Chicago: University of Chicago.Google Scholar
Bosso, Christopher J. 2005. Environmental Inc. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press.Google Scholar
Brasher, Holly, Lowery, David, and Gray, Virginia. 1999. “State Lobby Registration Data: The Anomalous Case of Florida (and Minnesota Too!).” Legislative Studies Quarterly 24:303–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burstein, Paul, and Linton, April. 2002. “The Impact of Political Parties, Interest Groups, and Social Movement Organizations on Public Policy: Some Recent Evidence and Theoretical Concerns.” Social Forces 81:380–408.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carroll, Glenn R., and Hannan, Michael T.. 2000. The Demography of Corporations and Industries. Princeton: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colinvaux, Paul. 1978. Why Big Fierce Animals Are Rare: An Ecologist's Perspective. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Fisker, Helene Marie. 2013. “Density Dependence in Corporative Systems: Development of the Population of Danish Patient Groups (1901–2011).” Interest Groups & Advocacy 2:119–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gray, Virginia, and Lowery, David. 1993. “The Diversity of State Interest Group Systems.” Political Research Quarterly 46:81–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gray, Virginia, and Lowery, David. 1995. “The Demography of Interest Organization Communities: Institutions, Associations, and Membership Groups.” American Politics Quarterly 23: 3–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gray, Virginia, and Lowery, David. 1996. The Population Ecology of Interest Representation. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gray, Virginia, and Lowery, David. 2001. “The Expression of Density Dependence in State Communities of Organized Interest.” American Politics Research 29:374–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gray, Virginia, Lowery, David, and Benz, Jennifer K.. 2013. Interest Groups and Health Care Reform across the United States. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Gray, Virginia, Lowery, David, Cluverius, John, and Harden, Jeffrey J.. 2013. “Explaining the Anomalous Growth of the Public Sector Lobbying in the American State, 1997-2007.” Publius 43:580–99.Google Scholar
Gray, Virginia, Lowery, David, Fellowes, Matthew, and McAtee, Andrea. 2004. “Public Opinion, Public Policy, and Organized Interests in the American States.” Political Research Quarterly 57:411–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grier, Kevin B., Munger, Michael C., and Roberts, Brian E.. 1994. “The Determinants of Industry Political Activity, 1978-1986.” The American Political Science Review 88:911–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Halpin, Darren, and Jordan, Grant. 2009. “Interpreting Environments: Interest Group Response to Population Ecology Pressures.” British Journal of Political Science 39:243–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Halpin, Darren, and Jordan, Grant. 2012a. “Estimating Group and Associational Populations.” In The Scale of Interest Organizations in Democratic Politics, eds. Halpin, Darren and Jordan, Grant. New York: Palgrave, 1–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Halpin, Darren, and Jordan, Grant. 2012b. The Scale of Interest Organization in Democratic Politics: Data and Research Methods. Hampshire, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hannan, Michael T., and Carroll, Glenn R.. 1992. Dynamics of Organizational Populations. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hannan, Michael T., and Freeman, John. 1989. Organization Ecology. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Hart, David. 2002. “High Tech Learns to Play the Washington Game: The Political Education of Bill Gates and Other Nerds.” In Interest Group Politics. 6th ed., eds. Allan J. Cigler and Burdett A. Loomis. Washington, DC: CQ Press, 293–312.Google Scholar
Heinz, J. P., Laumann, Edward O., Nelson, Robert L., and Salisbury, Robert H.. 1993. The Hollow Core: Private Interests in National Policy Making. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Hojnacki, Marie. 1997. “Interest Groups Decisions to Join Alliance or Work Alone.” American Journal of Political Science 41:61–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hunter, Kennith G., Wilson, Laura, and Brunk, Gregory G.. 1991. “Social Complexity and Interest-Group Lobbying in the American States.” Journal of Politics 53:488–503.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jordan, Grant, Baumgartner, Frank R., McCarthy, John D., Bevan, Shaun, and Green, Justin. 2012. “Tracking Interest Group Populations in the US and UK.” In The Scale of Interest Organizations in Democratic Politics, eds. Halpin, Darren and Jordan, Grant. New York: Palgrave, 141–60.Google Scholar
Lowery, David. 2007. “Why Do Organized Interests Lobby? A Multi-Goal, Multi-Context Theory of Lobbying.” Polity 39:29–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lowery, David, and Gray, Virginia. 1993. “The Density of State Interest Group Systems.” Journal of Politics 55:191–206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lowery, David, and Gray, Virginia. 1994a. “Do Lobbying Regulations Influence Lobbying Registrations.” Social Science Quarterly 75 (2): 382–84..Google Scholar
Lowery, David, and Gray, Virginia. 1994b. “The Nationalization of State Interest Group System Density and Diversity.” Social Science Quarterly 75 (2): 368–77..Google Scholar
Lowery, David, and Gray, Virginia. 1995. “The Population Ecology of Gucci Gulch, or the Natural Regulation of Interest Group Numbers in the American States.” American Journal of Political Science 39 (February): 1–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gray, Virginia and Lowery, David. 1997. “Reconceptualizing PAC Formation: It's Not a Collective Action Problem, and It May Be an Arms Race.” American Politics Quarterly 25: 319–346.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lowery, David, Gray, Virginia, and Kirkland, Justin. 2012. “Generalist Interest Organizations and Interest System Density: A Test of the Competitive Exclusion Hypothesis.” Social Science Quarterly 93: 21–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lowery, David, Gray, Virginia, Anderson, Jennifer, and Newmark, Adam J.. 2004. “Collective Action and the Mobilization of Institutions.” Journal of Politics 66 (2): 684–705..CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lowery, David, Gray, Virginia, Benz, Jennifer, Deason, Mary, Kirkland, Justin, and Sykes, Jennifer. 2009. “Understanding the Relationship between Health PACs and Health Lobbying in the American States.” Publius 29:70–94.Google Scholar
Lowery, David, Gray, Virginia, and Cluverius, John. 2013. “Economic Change and the Supply of Interest Representation in the American States.” Business and Politics 15:33–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lowery, David, Gray, Virginia, and Fellowes, Matthew. 2005. “Sisyphus Meets the Borg: Economic Scale and the Inequalities in Interest Representation.” Journal of Theoretical Politics 17:41–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lowery, David, Gray, Virginia, and Monogan, James. 2008. “The Construction of Interest Communities: Distinguishing Bottom-Up and Top-Down Models.” Journal of Politics 70:1160–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Messer, Anne, Berkhout, Joost, and Lowery, David. 2011. “The Density of the EU Interest System: A Test of the ESA Model.” British Journal of Political Science 41 (1): 161–90..CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nownes, Anthony J. 2004. “The Population Ecology of Interest Group Formation: Mobilizing for Gay and Lesbian Rights in the United States, 1950-98.” British Journal of Political Science 34:49–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nownes, Anthony J., and Lipinski, Daniel. 2005. “The Population Ecology of Interest Group Death: Gay and Lesbian Rights Interest Groups in the United States, 1945-98.” British Journal of Political Science 35:303–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olson, Mancur Jr. 1965. The Logic of Collective Action. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Olson, Mancur Jr. 1982. The Rise and Decline of Nations. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Real, Leslie, and Brown, James H.. 1991. Foundations of Modern Ecology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schlozman, Kay L., and Tierney, John T.. 1986. Organized Interests and American Democracy. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Truman, David B. 1951. The Governmental Process. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.Google Scholar
Wolak, Jennifer, Lowery, David, and Gray, Virginia. 2001. “California Dreaming: Outliers, Leverage, and Influence in Comparative State Political Analysis.” State Politics & Policy Quarterly 1 (3): 255–72..CrossRefGoogle Scholar