Overview
Can grassroots interest groups ever win the wars they wage in the political arena against big business in America? Praised by some as a crucial component of the democratic system and criticized by others as stubborn, single-issue factions that pose a threat to the equitable progress of political change, interest groups are considered by many detractors to have a success rate directly related to their alliance with wealthy, powerful corporations. As Ronald T. Libby asserts in Eco-Wars, viable strategies are available to environmental, food safety, animal rights, gun control, and other organizations that seek to challenge business interests in the political arena. Employing newly released documents culled from five non-business-related alliances with mostly social concerns, known today as ""expressive"" interest groups, Libby examines how they confront powerful industries. Eco-Wars investigates an antibiotechnology campaign aimed at drug companies; an animal rights effort directed against the agricultural industry; an anti-pesticide campaign focused on the chemical industry; a property rights fight against environmental groups; and a secondhand smoke campaign opposing tobacco companies. Drawing upon previously classified files, Eco-Wars also draws from interviews with both activists and the industry representatives they oppose.With his balanced analysis, Libby goes beyond the polemical nature of much work on this subject, offering a new avenue for research in the social sciences and a useful tool for interest groups.
Full Product Details
Author: Ronald T. Libby
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Imprint: Columbia University Press
Dimensions:
Width: 15.20cm
, Height: 1.50cm
, Length: 22.80cm
Weight: 0.368kg
ISBN: 9780231113113
ISBN 10: 0231113110
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 19 March 1999
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Out of stock
The supplier is temporarily out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you on backorder and shipped when it becomes available.
Language: English
Reviews
A very usable and balanced book with great adaptability to any course dealing with organized interest politics. Libby argues well that expressive interests can and do check and politically trouble wealthier economic interests. This analysis effectively presents a side of interest politics that too many ignore too often.
Author Information
RONALD T. LIBBY is professor and department chair in the Political Science Department at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia and the author of five books including Protecting Markets: U.S. Policy and the World Grain Trade and The Politics of Economic Power in Southern Africa.
