Citizens, Political Communication, and Interest Groups - Environmental Organizations in Canada and the United States

This intriguing book investigates the technical information quandary created by post-industrial changes, which have produced demands for citizen involvement in public policy processes while complex scientific and technical issues increasingly make public involvement difficult. Authors Pierce, Steger, Steel, and Lovrich address the degree to which interest groups might serve to bridge the knowledge gap between public policy processes and the citizenry in U.S. and Canadian settings.

The focus of the study is on acid rain policy in Michigan and Ontario, an area of considerable scientific and technical complexity as well as political and public interest. The authors examine how the U.S. and Canadian publics acquire, process, and communicate policy-relevant information so that it can influence policymaking. Do interest groups play the information dissemination role in a manner that could address the technical information quandary? Are interest groups playing the same or different roles in the United States and Canada? What different factors cause U.S. and Canadian interest groups to behave as they do in the political arena? Recommended for scholars of Political Science, Communication, Environmental Studies, and Comparative Public Policy.

List of contents

Information, Individuals, and Interest Groups
The Political Culture Context
Trust in Sources of Policy-Relevant Information
The Information Incentive
Organizational Resources and Informational Capacity
Environmental Groups As Communicators
Interest Groups, Individuals, and the Technical Information Quandary
Appendix
References
Index

About the author

BRENT S. STEEL is Associate Professor of Political Science at Washington State University in Vancouver. He is the coauthor of Citizens, Political Communication, and Interest Groups (Praeger, 1992).

Product details

• Authors: Lovrich Nicholas, John C. Pierce, Pierce John, Brent S. Steel, Steel Brent S., Mary Ann Steger, Mary Ann E. Steger
• Publisher: Bloomsbury
• Languages: English
• Age Recommendation: ages 7 to 17
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 30.11.1992
• EAN: 9780275935795
• ISBN: 978-0-275-93579-5
• Subjects: Non-fiction book > Nature, technology > Natural science; USA, Canada, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Process / Political Advocacy, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Public Policy / Environmental Policy, POLITICAL SCIENCE / American Government / National, POLITICAL SCIENCE / World / Canadian, The environment, United States of America, USA, Science / Environmental Science, Pressure groups, protest movements and non-violent action, Central / national / federal government policies, Central government policies, Pressure groups & lobbying, Politics, Law, and Government