Module POL3274 for 2021/2
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Undergraduate Module Descriptor
POL3274: Money, Lobbying, and Policymaking
This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.
Module Content
Syllabus Plan
Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics: the purpose of interest groups, what lobbying is and how it is done, laws that regulate lobbying and money in the US and other countries, current research on lobbying and policymaking, case studies of lobbying and policymaking, and related topics.
Assignments include strategic memos, a research note (a short essay of your original research), a bit of data analysis using a statistics package, and an in-class simulations of lobbying and policymaking.
Learning and Teaching
This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 22 | 128 | 0 |
...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled learning and teaching activities | 22 | 11 x 2 hour seminars |
| Guided independent study | 44 | Preparing for seminars: Reading and research |
| Guided independent study | 84 | Completing assessment tasks: Reading, research and writing |
Online Resources
This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).
Indicative Reading List
This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.
- Baumgartner and Leech, Basic Interests
- Baumgartner, Berry, Hojnacki, Kimball, and Leech, Lobbying and Policy Change
- Berry and Wilcox, The Interest Group Society
- E. E. Schattschneider, The Semisovereign People: A Realist's View of Democracy in America
- Frank J. Sorauf, Inside Campaign Finance
- Larry Sabato, PAC Power
- Panagopoulos and Schank, All Roads Lead to Congress
- Robert M. Alexander, The Classics of Interest Group Behavior
- Wolpe and Levine, Lobbying Congress
- Amy McKay, “Buying Policy? The Effects of Lobbyists’ Resources on their Policy Success.” Political Research Quarterly Austen-Smith and Wright, “Counteractive Lobbying.” American Political Science Review
- Chin, Bond, and Geva. “A foot in the door: An experimental study of PAC and constituency effects on access.” Journal of Politics
- David Lowery. “Why Do Organized Interests Lobby? A Multi-Goal, Multi-Context Theory of Lobbying.” Polity
- Denzau and Munger, “How Unorganized Interests Get Represented.” American Political Science Review
- Hall and Wayman, “Buying Time: Moneyed Interests and the Mobilization of Bias in Congressional Committees.” American Political Science Review
- Jennifer Nicoll Victor, “Strategic Lobbying.” American Politics Research
