The Impact of Policy Change Threat on Financial Contributions to Interest Groups

Citizen activism in democratic societies can guide government policy-making in numerous ways. People can work to help elect candidates with whom they agree on policy issues (Milbrath & Goel, 1977; Verba, Schlozman, & Brady, 1995). They can support interest groups that lobby legislators on particular issues (Cigler & Loomis, 1995; Hansen, 1991). In the extreme, they can join together and catalyze social movements to demand more radical social change (Smelser, 1962; Tarrow, 1998).