Citation

Lacombe MJ. Policy Stud. J. 2022; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, Policy Studies Organization (USA), Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/psj.12446

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Studies of policy feedback have produced an increasingly nuanced understanding of when, why, and how public policies generate--or fail to generate--political effects that entrench the policies themselves and provide benefits to their proponents. Left open, however, is the question of whether policies can paradoxically generate political benefits for those who opposed them. This paper extends the study of policy feedback by exploring the mechanisms through and conditions under which organized groups can counterintuitively use policy losses to build power moving forward. It then demonstrates how post-loss power building operates by exploring the National Rifle Association's historical use of gun policy losses to reinforce a shared identity among its supporters, which it later uses to spur collective action on behalf of gun rights. The analysis shows how policy outcomes can interact with the identity-building efforts of organized groups in ways that enable those groups to use losses to their long-term advantage.

Language: en

Keywords

comentarios sobre políticas; grupos de interés; gun politics; interest groups; policy feedback; política de armas; 利益集团; 政策反馈; 枪支政治