Political Actions

Learning Objectives
3.1 Classify the modes of conventional and
less conventional individual political
action.
3.2 Distinguish between interest groups and
political parties.
3.3 Summarize interest group strategies.
3.4 Identify the types of interest groups and
the constraints under which they operate.
3.5 Analyze the roles of political parties.
 Fearless activist. Aung San Suu Kyi has consistently been a strong voice
promoting democracy and opposing the repressive regime in Myanmar. Here,
she addresses a rally shortly before one of her lengthy periods under house
arrest.
Altsean-Burma/AFP/Getty Images/Newscom
 Political Participation
 All of the political actions by individuals and
groups
 The explicit objective of most political

participation is to influence the actions or

selection of political rulers.
 Individual Political Actions
3.1 Classify the modes of conventional and less conventional individual political action.

 Modes of political activity

◦ Conventional
 Voting, campaign activities, contacting officials, and
participating in civic groups
◦ Less conventional
 Protesting, terrorism
Figure 3.1 Some modes of individual political
action.
3.1 Classify the modes of conventional and
less conventional individual political action.
 Political Activists

◦ Foot soldiers
 Activists who do the basic work of politics
◦ Single-issue activists
 These people normally do not participate very actively
in the political world, but an issue emerges that
mobilizes them into a period of high-level action.
3.1 Classify the modes of conventional and
less conventional individual political action.

 Extremist-activists
◦ those who are willing to engage in extensive,
unconventional political action in pursuit of their
vision of an ideal political outcome that is
substantially different from the existing situation.
3.1 Classify the modes of conventional and
less conventional individual political action.

 Political Activists

◦ Political leaders
 they succeed in capturing supreme political power
within a government and using it with extraordinary
energy and effect (whether good or bad).
A youthful and charismatic Enrique Peña Nieto campaigns successfully
for a Mexican state governorship in 2004. He was elected President,
Mexico's top leadership position, in 2012.

AP Images/Jose Luis Magana

 3.1 Classify the modes of conventional and less conventional individual
political action.

 Political Participation Studies

◦ Summary of Findings
 Apart from voting, high levels of persistent political
activity tend to be uncommon in most political
systems.
 About one-fifth of adults in the U.S. engage in no political
activity
3.1 Classify the modes of conventional and
less conventional individual political action.

 Political Participation Studies

◦ Summary of Findings
 However, in many political systems, there are some
citizens who are willing to occasionally engage in more
activist modes of political participation, such as a
lawful demonstration or boycott.
 In less democratic and nondemocratic countries, there is a
greater reliance on unconventional political behavior.
 3.2 Distinguish between interest groups and political parties.

 To have a greater impact on politics, an

individual's best strategy is to join with
others through a political group
 Group is an aggregation of individuals who

interact in order to pursue a common interest

◦ Political interest group
◦ Political party
 Political Interest Groups
3.3 Summarize interest group strategies.
 All political interest groups share the
common objective of attempting to influence
the allocation of public values.
 Pursue variety of strategies to achieve

purpose
◦ Political action
◦ Provision of material resources
◦ Exchange of information
◦ Cooperation
 Constraints on a Group's Behavior
3.4 Identify the types of interest groups and the
constraints under which they operate.

 Political resources
◦ Those elements, controlled by the group, which can
influence the decisions and actions of political
actors
3.4 Identify the types of interest groups and
the constraints under which they operate.

 Objectives
◦ An interest group is advantaged to the extent that
its objective is
 Similar to existing policy
 a decision that the political system has the capacity
and motivation to make
3.4 Identify the types of interest groups and the constraints under which they
operate.

 Political environment

◦ Democratic systems
 there is some disagreement about the extent to which
interest groups contribute to healthy democratic
processes
3.4 Identify the types of interest groups and the constraints under which they
operate.

 Types of Interest Groups

◦ Associational interest groups

 Organized specifically to further the political objectives
of its members

◦ Institutional interest groups

 A group that has been formed to achieve non-political
goals, but that has a subunit whose purpose is to
represent the group's political interests.
3.4 Identify the types of interest groups and the constraints under which they
operate.

 Types of Interest Groups

◦ Non-associational interest groups

 Fluid aggregates of individuals who are not explicitly
associated with a permanent organizational entity but
who share some common interest regarding certain
issues and become politically active on an issue

◦ Anomic interest groups

 Short-lived, spontaneous aggregations of people who
share a political concern
 Political Parties
3.5 Analyze the roles of political parties.
 Activities of Political Parties
◦ Political parties in most countries engage in six
broad activities, functioning to:
 (1) brokers of ideas
 (2) agents of political socialization
 (3) link between individuals the system
 (4) mobilization and recruitment of political activists
 (5) coordination of governmental operations
 (6) organized sources of opposition
 Doing Politics
 Acting alone or with others, the individual
who takes political action might seek to serve
his own interests, a national goal such as
democratic governance, or an altruistic goal
such as global peace.
 Doing Politics
 Political participation is a crucial topic in our
developing understanding of the nature of
the political world because people's actions
are at the heart of the political process.
 Home work
 Classify the modes of conventional and less
conventional individual political action.

 Summarize interest group strategies.

 Analyze the roles of political parties.