Organizing for Policy Influence ─ Comparing Parties, Interest Groups, and Direct Action

In this book, Benjamin Farrer examines how activists can influence policy outcomes, even when they are outnumbered or relegated to a niche in democratic society. The answer lies in a surprising place: organizational choice. By finding opportunities offered by different democratic institutions, and organizing to take advantage of these opportunities, even minority groups can be influential. Environmentalists are a key example of how minority groups can punch above their weight. In the empirical chapters that follow, Benjamin Farrer show that environmentalists can sometimes be more influential if they form interest groups, but under different institutions, political parties are the optimal organizational form. Although interest groups are often easier to create, national institutions can sometimes insulate mainstream politicians from niche interest groups. When institutions deny access to interest groups, activists are forced to send the stronger signal of party entry.

Using a variety of methods, including a formal model, a wealth of empirical data from a variety of settings, and a new experimental dataset, Farrer proves that this theory of organizational choice adds to our understanding of several crucial phenomena. First, it helps explain patterns of political participation, by showing the importance of instrumental, rather than purely expressive, motivations for activism. Second, it provides an important modification to Duverger's (1954) law, by showing that new party entry is a function not only of electoral rules but also of the rules that govern interest groups. Third, it extends contemporary research on the role of institutions in determining policy outputs, by showing that policy outcomes are a function of the interaction between organizational choices and institutional context.

Benjamin Farrer is an assistant professor in the Environmental Studies Department at Knox College. His main research and teaching interests are in the field of parties and interest groups.