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Interest Groups and State Policy for Higher Education: New Conceptual Understandings and Future Research Directions

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Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research

Abstract

An empirical literature recently has arisen attempting to explain policy outcomes for higher education in the 50 states. The studies have examined the policy influences of legislatures, bureaucracies, governors, and other institutional political actors, but few research efforts have sought to account—conceptually or empirically—for the policy impacts of organized interest groups in the arena of state postsecondary education. This chapter helps to remedy the gap. We outline a broad agenda for research that aims to deepen conceptual understanding of the relationship between interest groups and state level higher education policy and to chart future research directions. We organize the chapter around three foci: (1) a review of extant research on state-level interest group activity in the higher education arena; (2) development of a conceptual framework grounded in the literatures of political science and higher education on interest groups and public policymaking with which to guide future inquiry; and, (3) a discussion of possible future research directions in the area, including a number of rarely-used data sources that could enrich the future study of interest groups and higher education in the U.S. states.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    McGuinness’s 2011 version of his categorization of state higher education governance structures can be found here: http://www.ecs.org/html/educationIssues/Governance/GovPSDB_intro.asp

  2. 2.

    See, for example, the online lobbyist registration databases for California http://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/; Florida http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Lobbyist/index.cfm?Tab=lobbyist; New York http://www.nyintegrity.org/public/lobby_data.html; Pennsylvania http://www.oit.state.pa.us/LobbyistRegister/Site/Default.asp; Texas http://www.ethics.state.tx.us/guides/LOBBY%20guide.htm#REGISTERING; Tennessee http://tennessee.gov/tref/lobbyists/lobbyists_faq.htm; and Wisconsin http://ethics.state.wi.us/lobbyingregistrationreports/LobbyingOverview.htm.

  3. 3.

    See also Zumeta (1998), who proposes a similar relationship between statewide boards and policy outcomes, if for different reasons.

  4. 4.

    The models derive from McGuinness’ (1986, 1988, 1991, 1994, 1997) four-fold typology, and include consolidated governing boards, regulatory coordinating boards, advisory coordinating boards, and planning agencies. As with the challenges associated with the Hrebenar-Thomas measure, the data provided by McGuinness are updated only periodically, although the gaps between updates in the McGuiness typology are shorter than those found in the Hrebenar and Thomas surveys.

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Correspondence to Erik C. Ness Ph.D. .

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Appendix: Prospective Research Questions Related to Interest Groups and Higher Education in the States

Appendix: Prospective Research Questions Related to Interest Groups and Higher Education in the States

State Landscape of Interest Groups and How They Operate

Why do some institutions choose to employ a full-time lobbyist (e.g., director of governmental affairs) and others choose to contract with a lobbying firm or do both? What are the trade-offs?

 

To what extent do higher education lobbying strategies vary by state? To what extent do they vary by sector or locus of control?

 

To what extent do the tactics, strategies, motivations, and methods of higher education lobbyists and interest groups differ from other lobbyists and interest groups?

 

How do the size and resource bases of higher education lobbies vary across states?

Factors Influencing the State Interest Group Landscape

What impact does the density and diversity of a state’s interest group environment have on the state’s higher education lobby?

 

What factors influence a higher education interest group’s decision making in regard to lobbying strategy?

 

What is the relationship between a state’s interest density and diversity and various measures of the strength of the college and university lobby (e.g., the Thomas and Hrebenar’s scale)?

 

How has the relative size of the higher education lobby changed over time? Which characteristics of the higher education lobby (e.g., organizational attributes, reliance on “hired guns,” etc.) changed overtime? Why have these changes occurred?

Impacts of State Interest Groups on State Politics and Policy Outputs

What impact do interest groups, and specifically the higher education lobby, have on state level higher education policy?

 

What, if anything, has resulted from changes in higher education’s influence? What difference has the lobby made in terms of state policy outcomes? How has the policy impact changed over time?

 

To what extent do state governance structures condition the impact of the higher education lobby? What structures most and least mediate the policy influence of the higher education lobby?

 

Does the impact of the higher education lobby vary depending on whether an institution employs a contract lobbyist, an in-house lobbyist, or both?

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Ness, E.C., Tandberg, D.A., McLendon, M.K. (2015). Interest Groups and State Policy for Higher Education: New Conceptual Understandings and Future Research Directions. In: Paulsen, M. (eds) Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research. Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research, vol 30. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-12835-1_4

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