The Politics of Poverty: A Case Study Analysis of Interest Groups in Conservative State Legislatures

Abstract

This thesis poses questions related to the intersection of social safety net retrenchment and interest group politics, namely (a) what works when attempting to stop state-based social safety net retrenchment and (b) what impact can organizations have on legislation in state legislatures. This research distinguishes itself from other research on the subject because of its approach: looking at almost the exact same bill, the HOPE Act, in four politically similar states, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Kansas, and Mississippi. It does this to attempt to keep as many variables constant as possible. It uses a qualitative approach, relying mainly on local research and interviews whenever possible.

The results of this thesis indicate that progressive interest groups can have a clear effect on social safety net policy in conservative states. Outside groups are not the only factor that affects the passage of legislation, but they create the framework for the legislative debate. Factors that affect organizations are funding, presence of other organizations, prioritization of the issue, and level-of-action. This thesis finds that the key to policy solutions related to state-level social safety net retrenchment lies in the creation of a new organization to combat conservative state-level organizations.