Difference between Political Parties and Interest Groups

Political parties and interest groups both operate as linkage institutions. A linkage institution is a structure that connects the people to their government in a given society. The book says that an interest group is An organized group of individuals sharing common objectives who actively attempt to influence policymakers (Sidlow and Henschen page 124.) While a political party is A group of individuals who organize to win elections, operate the government, and determine policy(Sidlow and Henschen page 146.)

A political party is a group of like-minded people who work together to win elections and to operate the government. Political parties compete against one another for political power and to put their policies into place. An advantage that political parties have in connecting people to the government is that they can recruit and nominate candidates for political office(Sidlow and Henschen page 154.) This means that the parties have the power to choose who they want to put into office and to simplify voting choices for the people. Parties also have the ability to organize campaigns for their candidate which then draws in new voters for their party. This is an advantage because it allows the party to make sure the election process goes as they have planned. For example, during campaigns, parties recruit new voters and register new party members. Another advantage that political parties have is the ability to inform the public. Informing the public is very important for the parties to do so that people can learn what the parties views are and then become a member. Parties help inform the public about important political issues, some of these issues recently have been about environmental policies, health-care, taxes, and immigration (Sidlow and Henschen page155.) The parties can present their views using television, newspaper ads, and website articles. All of these are effective ways for a political party to recruit new members and gain votes for their side.

An interest group is a group of individuals that want to influence policymakers on the basis of a particular interest or concern. For example, PETA is an interest group that advocates for animal rights and tries to get policymakers to change animal cruelty laws and make them more strict. An advantage that interest groups have in connecting people to the government is influencing the public. By raising public awareness to inspire action on various issues, interest groups help bridge the gap between citizens and government. This then allows the newly informed citizens to explain their views to public officials (Sidlow and Henschen page 127.) Interest groups use feelings and incentives to bring in more members. Interest groups occasionally check on officials to make sure that they are carrying out their duties responsibly (Sidlow and Henschen page127.) Using feelings and incentives to sway peoples opinions is another advantage interest groups. Interest groups can use a person's feelings to manipulate them into feeling like they need to be involved, they can also use them as an incentive because some people find great satisfaction in being a part of a group. A third advantage that interest groups have is that they are very organized and are usually financed by their members, unlike political parties that have to campaign for their funds and organize by themselves. This allows interest to run more smoothly than political parties which benefits them when trying to recruit new members.

Personally, I believe that political parties do a better job of connecting people to the government than interest groups do. By definition, a Political party is a group of individuals who organize to win elections, operate the government, and determine policy(Sidlow and Henschen page 146.) The bolded words here stand out to me because this shows that a political party is directly related to the government and that they have some sort of influential power. While the definition of an interest group is an organized group of individuals sharing common objectives who actively attempt to influence policymakers(Sidlow and Henschen page 124.) The bolded word in this definition stands out to me because it tells me that an interest group does not actually have influential power, it only has the power to attempt to cause change.

A suggestion that I have for these two institutions to work together is, for example, PETA and the democratic party could work together to bring about more dramatic change for animal rights. The democratic party could use its ability to organize campaigns and PETA could use its numerous amount of members to gather people to said campaigns and vote for policy change. The democratic party could also use its ability to inform the public, to show people about PETA and what they stand for, which could bring in more members for PETA. Just as PETA could inform their members that they are working with the democratic party to gain a policy change, which would influence people to become a Democrat.

In conclusion, I believe there are various ways both linkage institutions help connect people to the government, but overall I believe the political parties carry this out far more effectively. Although interest groups have many advantages similar to political parties advantages, I feel the interest groups do not connect people as successfully as political parties. Through informing the public, organizing campaigns, and coordinating to win elections, political parties are the superior linkage institution.

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