Having read the chapter, you should be able to do each of the following:

1. Define "interest group."
2. List the different types of interest groups and their constituencies. Compare and contrast the organizational advantages and disadvantages of economic and noneconomic groups.
3. Define lobbying and explain its objective. List the tactics employed by interest groups in the lobbying process.
4. Compare and contrast the processes of inside and outside lobbying, their targets in the power structure, and the circumstances in which each is most effective.
5. Discuss the activities of political action committees and their influence on the election process.
6. Explain pluralist theory and "interest-group liberalism." Discuss the major weaknesses of the pluralist argument.
7. Discuss the Madisonian dilemma: the conflict between the advocacy of self-interest as the basic prerequisite for a free society, and the government’s responsibility to protect and preserve the public interest. Also, explain how James Madison’s constitutional system of checks and balances gives special interests precedence over the common good.