The Interest Groups of Foreign Policy

The Interest Groups of Foreign Policy

Compared to some other sectors, interest groups involved with foreign policy deal with smaller sums of money. Instead of the private sector, other countries and the American general public, which is usually more knowledgeable about global issues compared to specific industries, take up some of the space that is left by the smaller amount of financial contributions. With that in mind, let’s take a look at a list of the top contributing interest groups.

Top 9 contributors to Foreign & Defense Policy

Wow, the Council for a Livable World donates most of its money to Democrats! I think I'll investigate what they do. This is from their mission:

Council for a Livable World is a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit, non-partisan advocacy organization dedicated to reducing the danger of nuclear weapons and increasing national security.

96% is quite"non-partisan," isn't it. The people involved are more important, so check out the donations to candidates for federal positions.

So, the individual contributions from this single interest group aren't enormous, but all the recipients are Democrats. In 2008, donations added up to $3.9 million, which was an enormous 85% increase from 2006 (a lot of this can be attributed to the presidential election). In fact, that jump can be shown in a graph relating the average contribution to members of congress over time.

From the graphs, we can see that 2008 was an especially important year in foreign policy because the jump in that presidential election year was much higher than in other presidential election years.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, about 13% of Americans were born in a foreign country. This is how the American general public affects the government's views on international affairs. Ethnically focused interest groups influence foreign policy because these organizations represent the many people who have direct ties to their motherland. This scholarly article examines the Cuban American National Foundation from the 1980s to show that this trend is not new.

One example of an iron triangle involves Israel, which is such an important issue that it is considered a separate category from foreign policy by many sites.

• American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Northern Californians for Good Government (interest groups)
• Committee of Foreign Affairs (House) & Committee of Foreign Relations (Senate)
• Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), United States Agency for International Development, United States Foreign Service (bureaucracy)

Though the above issue network displays interest groups that are pro-Israel, there are many ways that international affairs can be influenced through the American government because there are so many different aspects to foreign policy.

BONUS - A fascinating video of fear-mongering (in 240p):

Image Citations

"Contributions to Federal Candidates." Opensecrets. OpenSecrets.org, n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2013. <http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/pacgot.php?cycle=2012>.

"Foreign & Defense Policy." Opensecrets. OpenSecrets.org, n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2013. <http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus.php?ind=Q04>.

"Foreign & Defense Policy: Top Contributors to Federal Candidates, Parties, and Outside Groups." Opensecrets. OpenSecrets.org, n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2013. <http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/contrib.php?ind=Q04>.