Bentuk Lobi Politik Pressure Group Di Pemerintahan AS. Studi Kasus; Proses Lobi National Rifle Association Dalam Mempengaruhi Kebijakan Senjata Api AS Pada Periode Obama 2009-2014

Ihtarfaiq Musaida, Atin Prabandari

2015 | Skripsi | Ilmu Hubungan Internasional

The gun issue is just one of many issues that has been a major debate in United States (US) recently. The debate between pro-gun control groups and pro-gun rights groups often takes place after a mass shooting just happened. Such as Sandy Hook incident in 2012. The incident also encouraged Obama to propose a new, stricter policy about gun control. For the sake of US citizens’ safety. Obama then push his new policy about background checks for Congress. Unfortunately, the new policy could not make it in there, because it was defeated by Congressmen’s voting. But then, the policy’s failure became one unique occurrence. First, because the policy was defeated by vote in Senate, which has a Democrat majority. Second, the fact that public seems to support those policy. Approximately 90% of US citizens and 84% of NRA pressure groups’ members are supported Obama’s background checks policy. Based on that fact, the author assumed that there was a third party which succeeded in persuading the Congressmen’s vote. That third party was designated at National Rifle Association (NRA). One of the most powerful pressure group in US. NRA became one of the most powerful pressure group in US, due to their cooperation with gun industries and Republican Party. The gun industries take their roles as the funding source for NRA. Therefore, NRA used the fund for various lobbying activities. Those lobbies then conveyed to Congress through the Congressmen, whose also members of Republican Party. This tactic is possible, because both NRA and Republican Party are partners for a long time. And these kind of cooperation maneuver are the reasons why NRA’s lobby could become effective, in terms of gun issue. The thesis focuses in analyzing several forms of NRA’s lobbying strategies in affecting gun policy in Obama’s administration. While the analysis is carried out using three theories’ points of view. These are Andrew Heywood’s pressure group theory, Gabriel Almond’s political system, and lobbying theory. Keywords: gun debate, pro-gun rights, pro-gun control, NRA, gun industry, Republican Party

Kata Kunci : Politik di amerika