Special interest Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Special interest - Essay Example One kind of an interest group is that which takes the form of political groups; the aim of the creation of this kind of interest group is to influence people in the political arena to create policies that favor the interest of a political interest group. One such interest group is Texas Medical Association, this group is said to be the largest medical association that has been operational for years with the aim of representing over 46,000 physicians and other individuals related to the field of medicine (Newell, 2009, p.92). Interest groups often derive their strength from their membership. Some of the largest and most powerful interest groups in the nation include the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP). This association has a membership of over 32 million persons. With this kind of membership, pushing for championing of certain interest is not very hard. Other equally influential interest groups include the National Rifle Association (NRA), AFL-CIO and American Medical Association (Chapter 11, n.d). The relationship between interest groups and political groups is a very close one and it has been in existence for a very long period of time. Both these groups are defined to conduct separate functions in a particular nation (Bardes, 2012, p.224). A party has the task of ensuring candidates are elected for various public positions after nominating them. On the contrary, interest groups focus on the policy side of the political environment, where they try to influence the policy decision making process. Even though both these groups are defined to have different operational functions, they have a strong relationship which has lasted for quite a long period of time. For example, interest groups such as environmentalists have close ties with a particular state’s democratic political parties. The close alliance