Suchergebnisse

Political parties and pressure groups are depend ent upon one another. Interest groups find the parties an im portant method of gaining access to those in public authority, and the parties need the support of groups to elect and maintain themselves in power. The loose party structure and the na ture of the federal system foster a chain of continuous re lationships between the two. Interest groups participate in both nonpartisan and partisan primaries and general elections through candidate endorsement, providing campaign funds, and general campaign activity. Interest groups are particularly in terested in programs and seek to influence party platforms and may provide speech materials for candidates. There is some attempt on the part of both to infiltrate each other though rarely has an interest group been able to capture complete control of a party organization. The overlapping memberships help to educate the parties about the interests of the private groups and vice versa, and provide some cross-fertilization of ideas as well as manpower assistance. Political parties have a prime function of accommodating the demands of the private interests into the larger public interests.

The rise of pressure-group politics in Britain has stimulated a corresponding growth of academic interest in pressure groups. Some distinguished early case studies were crowned in 1965 with Beer's majestic interpretation, while the last decade saw various accounts of the constitutional significance and merits of group activity. These bursts of academic energy illuminated parts of the pressure-group universe but left others in twilight. We are well informed about the lobbying activities of manufacturing industry, of organized labour and some of the professions. By contrast, there exists hardly any systematic discussion of how the interests of financial institutions are represented in government.

An illustration of the extent to which pressure groups have affected the migrant labor problem & the consequences that have resulted. The condition of domestic migrants & the implication of the movement of Mexican contract labor & 'wetbacks' into the US is described & an evaluation made of the diverse pressure groups involved & the disparity in their strength as well as their motives, their channels of access, & their influence on gov'al decision-making bodies. The 'wetback' solution is analysed & a mention is made of present pressure group att's & actions on domestic migrant & Mexican contract labor questions. It seens that the parties show little interest in the voteless migrants & the groups seem to have exclusive roles. The solutions that have been reached have resulted in disturbing methods,& democratic processes are taking 2nd place to many pressure groups. IPSA.