EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT

DATE: 8 a.m.-4:45 p.m. May 8; 8 a.m.-12:15 p.m. May 9, 2015

EVENT: “The Role of Special Interests in American Politics”

Presenters will include 16 leading scholars from around the United States, including professors from Harvard, Duke, California-Berkeley, UCLA and Michigan.

The research speaks to baffling questions in American politics today. How powerful are ‘special interests’ in the policy process? In what ways do lobbyists influence the decisions of legislators and executive officials? What role have grassroots movements played in the past and what role can they still play today?

Conference organizers said these questions are especially pertinent today in light of a rising sense of political powerlessness among the American electorate. With partisan polarization bringing about greater gridlock in Washington, the conference seeks to answer who is—and isn’t—shaping policy, and how they do that.

The conference is free and open to the public.

PLACE: Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, 1110 Weill Hall, 735 South State St., Ann Arbor

CONTACT: Professor Richard Hall, 734-730-5404, [email protected]; Professor Michael Heaney, 202-236-3369, [email protected]; graduate student Geoff Lorenz, 512-739-7522, [email protected].