ABSTRACT
In James Madison's seminal Federalist #10, he famously warned against faction, which he regarded as the greatest scourge of democratic government. Two centuries later, the terminology is different but its normative resonance remains the same. Rather than employing the now-quaint word "faction", modern commentators are more likely to speak of special interests, vested interests, lobbies, pressure groups, and single-issue groups. In this chapter, after disposing of some definitional issues, the author describes both the robust constitutional protection that special interests enjoy and the equally vigorous vilification to which the American public has always subjected them. It discusses the principal theoretical and empirical claims advanced by the critics of special interests. The chapter concludes with a discussion of various reforms that bear on the nature and role of special interests in the political process.
