Review: Pressure Groups in American Politics

Pressure Groups in American Politics by H.R. Mahood
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The general tradition of political thought is individualistic, just as the rhetoric of politics is individualistic outside the countries of the Communist bloc. In the study of politics as in psychology the individuals as a self-acting, autonomous, decisional unit has been the usual starting point of analysis. In the tradition of political thought he is treated as rational, deliberately selecting means to achieve deliberately chosen ends. He has the attribute of free will. He joins parties and attempts to use them to promote ends which he values, whether these be selfish or altruistic. If he gains power, he attempts to maintain it, for power is an important independent motive and he attempts to use power to achieve his ends-personal or social. Those who have power can be controlled by the threat of the loss of power or by manipulating the conditions under which they can achieve their ends. În turn, those who have power manipulate the sanctions of rewards and penalties which power gives them to control those who are their subjects. The great example of this kind of analysis is Machiavelli's The Prince.

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