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5 - Policy Vectors

Interest Groups and Diffusion Dynamics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2011

Graeme Boushey
Affiliation:
San Francisco State University
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Summary

Interest groups play a central role in the diffusion of innovations in America. As advocates for policy change, interest groups interact with government decision makers and political institutions to achieve legislative goals. Activists introduce novel policies for legislative consideration and work diligently to pressure government to enact them. Groups that are well represented in mainstream politics may work closely with elected government to enact legislation, whereas marginalized outsider groups attempt to influence legislation by framing and reframing policy proposals to shape mass perceptions and support for legislation, or by agitating for policy innovation at the state or municipal government level. In this sense, interest groups and individual policy advocates are important carriers of innovation in the United States. The spread of policy innovation is often driven by the dedicated work of policy entrepreneurs and interest-group activists who appeal to local, state, and national governments to secure legislative change.

Although research in public-policy diffusion has recognized the central role that interest groups and policy entrepreneurs play as the primary carriers of innovation, studies of interest groups have most often narrowly focused on single case studies documenting the existence and influence of interest-group networks and professional associations. This descriptive orientation overlooks how variations in the organization and behavior of policy vectors shape patterns of policy diffusion. Interest groups pursue a number of distinct organizational and rhetorical strategies to achieve policy change. The ways in which interest groups organize and pressure for innovation lead to very different outcomes for innovation diffusion.

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Chapter
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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

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  • Policy Vectors
  • Graeme Boushey, San Francisco State University
  • Book: Policy Diffusion Dynamics in America
  • Online publication: 01 March 2011
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511778834.005
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  • Policy Vectors
  • Graeme Boushey, San Francisco State University
  • Book: Policy Diffusion Dynamics in America
  • Online publication: 01 March 2011
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511778834.005
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Policy Vectors
  • Graeme Boushey, San Francisco State University
  • Book: Policy Diffusion Dynamics in America
  • Online publication: 01 March 2011
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511778834.005
Available formats
×