Special Interest Groups In Negotiation

Special interest groups are organized groups of people or businesses that share common viewpoints or policy goals that they promote through the political process. They come in all different types and sizes and represent just about every issue found within the political spectrum. Some groups, like Americans For Prosperity (AFP) with strong ties to the Tea Party and backed by billionaires David and Charles Koch, seek an economic advantage. Contrastly, “citizen groups”, such as environmental protection groups, work without an economic focus and promote social, political or civic causes. Other common types of interest groups include ideological groups, professional groups, labor unions, or public sectors. Interest groups use lobbying, campaign
Cap and trade is a market based approach to control pollution by providing economic incentives to companies that limit pollution. AFP is also a vocal opponent to taxes imposed on products like oil and gas. In 2008 AFP sent government officials at local, state and national levels a pledge to oppose any legislation relating to climate change that includes a tax. This lobbying effort resulted in a quarter of U.S. Senators and more than a third of U.S. Representatives, mainly Republicans, to sign the pledge. AFP is powerful interest group with lots of resources and use lobbying to promote their policy
The oil and gas, including Koch Industries are a large part of the blame for the inaction of the government. Although progress has been made in America with respect to awareness of climate change and the need for alternative energy, powerful industries and lobbying groups have substantially slowed that progress by lobbying for deregulation. A recent Gallup poll showed that almost 80% of Americans want and believe that the U.S. should put a larger emphasis on producing solar power. However electric utilities and fossil fuel industries disagree. They view solar as a threat to their business and therefore throw all their resources behind massive campaigns that attack solar energy and the policies which make solar energy accessible and affordable. This is one of the only spheres where oil and gas want governmental regulation to protect their business that thrives on oil and gas consumption. The oil and gas industries and electrical utilities have fought solar energy with campaigns that have no limitations. Solar energy has been on a rise since 2010 and have been successful with policies of net metering and renewable electricity standards. However it has been a long trip and most solar movements have failed or been slowed down by anti-solar powerhouses. According to the article Blocking the Sun, “Well-funded attacks on key solar policies are