What are the three parts of an iron triangle?

The three parts of the iron triangle are congressional committees, special interest groups, and bureaucratic agencies.

What is the role of the Iron triangle?

The role of an Iron Triangle is to achieve policy goals and influence government in ways that are mutually beneficial for all three parties: interest groups, congressional committees, and the bureaucracy.

What is the impact of iron triangles on government services?

One impact of Iron Triangle on government services is that the cooperative benefit of sharing expertise between the three elements of the triangle can result in more efficient policy creation. Another impact of the Iron Triangle on government services is that constituents’ needs may often come behind the needs of the the bureaucracy, interest groups, and congress as the pursue their own goals. Regulations that benefit a small minority or pork barrel legislation that only affects a narrow constituency are results of the Iron Triangle.

Iron Triangle: Definition, Example & Diagram

Q: What is the iron triangle?

Interest groups, congressional committees, and bureaucratic agencies working together to create policy and expand their influence and power.

Q: How does the iron triangle work?

Federal bureaucrats, special interest groups, and members of congressional committees form an alliance to work together to influence and create policy. These three points of the triangle share a policy-making relationship that is beneficial to all.

Iron Triangle

You may have seen the complicated flow chart demonstrating “How A Bill Becomes a Law” and wondered if that is really how the government works. Well, yes and no. Much of the business of politics happens behind the scenes. Iron Triangles are one way that the work of politics happens outside formal channels. But what exactly is the definition of an Iron Triangle and how does it work in government? What purpose do they serve?

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Iron Triangle Definition

The definition of an Iron Triangle is three elements consisting of interest groups, congressional committees, and bureaucratic agencies working together to create policy about a specific issue. Iron Triangles are defined by mutually advantageous relationships. Iron Triangles are ideas, not actual buildings, places, or institutions.

Policymaking in American government is a complicated and slow process requiring the cooperation and compromise of many different institutions. The framers of the U.S. system of government intentionally created a system that would take time and would require people to work together. One way that policymaking is carried out is through the idea of the Iron Triangle.

Iron Triangles are not a formal part of the system of U.S. Government policymaking, but in reality, it is often how work gets done. Groups work together to create policy because they want to accomplish goals and preserve and expand their own influence and power. Iron Triangles are often referred to as subgovernments because of their power and ability to achieve policy.

Policy: an action that the government takes. Examples of policy include laws, regulations, taxes, court decisions, and budgets.

Iron Triangle in Government

When bureaucratic agencies, members of congressional committees, and interest groups form relationships with one another, depend on one another, and are in frequent contact, they often form Iron Triangles in government. These triads have benefits for all three involved.

Congressional Committees

Because the work of Congress is so vast and complicated, it is broken down into committees. Committees focus on specific policy-making areas so that their attention is focused narrowly. Members of Congress desire to be assigned to committees related to their interests and constituents' needs. For example, a Congressperson representing a state that relies heavily on farming for its economy would want to be assigned to the agriculture committee to promote policy that benefits their home state.

Interest Groups

Interest groups consist of citizens who share a specific interest and work in various ways to achieve policy goals. They are often referred to as special interest groups. Interest groups are a linkage institution.

Linkage Institution: a political channel through which citizens’ concerns and needs become issues placed on the political agenda. Linkage institutions connect people to the government. Other examples of linkage institutions include elections, the media, and political parties.

Some of the ways that interest groups work to achieve policy goals are through electioneering and fundraising, lobbying, litigating, and using the media to go public.

Bureaucratic Agencies

The Bureaucracy is often referred to as the unofficial 4th branch of government because of its enormous size and responsibility, but the bureaucracy is part of the executive branch. Bureaucratic agencies are responsible for implementing the laws that Congress makes. The bureaucracy is a hierarchical structure with the President at the top. Underneath the President are the 15 cabinet departments, which are further subdivided into agencies.

About 4 million Americans comprise the bureaucracy
The bureaucracy is more broadly representative of the American public than any other branch of government
The Department of Defense, with about 1.3 million men and women in uniform, and about 733,000 civilians, is the largest employer in the bureaucracy.
Fewer than 1 in 7 bureaucrats work in Washington, D.C.
There are over 300,000 government buildings in the United States.
There are over 560,000 postal workers employed by the United States Postal Service, a government corporation.

Bureaucratic Agencies, Interest Groups, and Congressional Committee members form the three corners of the Iron Triangle in government.

Why would these three elements work together? Simply put, they need each other. Members of Congressional Committees and the Bureaucracy need interest groups because they are policy experts. They provide Congress with research and information. Individual members also rely on interest groups to raise money to donate to their reelection campaigns. Interest groups also use the media in savvy ways and can shape the voting public’s opinion of congressional members or on issues.

Interest Groups need Congress because they control policy development that benefits them. The Bureaucracy needs Congress because they create policy that affects them such as appropriations for their agencies.

Iron Triangle, StudySmarter Fig. 1, Iron Triangle Diagram, Wikimedia Commons

Iron Triangle Example

One example of an Iron Triangle at work is the tobacco triangle.

USDA Seal StudySmarter Fig. 2, Seal of the Department of Agriculture, Wikimedia Commons

Bureaucratic agency: The Tobacco Division of the Department of Agriculture. They create regulations that pertain to tobacco production and businesses that affect interest groups and provide information to congressional committees.

Interest GrouFig. 3, Example of gift offered to politician by tobacco lobbyists, Wikimedia Commonsp: The Tobacco lobby includes both tobacco farmers and tobacco manufacturers.

They offer support, campaign financing, and information to Congressional Committees. Interest groups also provide the bureaucracy with specific information and support their budget requests.

Senate Agriculture Committee Seal StudySmarter Fig. 4, Seal of Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry - Wikimedia Commons

Congressional Committee: Agriculture subcommittees in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Congress makes laws that affect the tobacco industry and approves bureaucratic budget requests.

These links between the three points form the sides of the Iron Triangle.

After World War II, with the advent of the Cold War with the Soviet Union, the United States increased its defense spending resulting in the growth of a permanent military establishment and investment in expensive advanced technology that benefitted the military.

President Eisenhower famously created the term, and warned about, the military-industrial complex. The military-industrial complex refers to the close relationship between the military hierarchy and the defense industry that supplies them with what they need. Throughout the 1950s and 60s, the United States Defense Department received over half the federal budget. Currently, the Department received about 1/5 of the federal budget.

The military-industrial complex is a iron triangle because of political spending by Congress exercising their power of the purse, contributions from lobbyists, and bureaucratic oversight.

Power of the Purse: Congress is vested with the power to tax and spend public money; this power is known as the power of the purse.

Iron Triangle Purpose

The purpose of an Iron Triangle in government is for federal bureaucrats, special interest groups, and members of congressional committees to form an alliance to work together to influence and create policy. These three points of the triangle share a policy-making relationship that is beneficial to all.

A drawback of the Iron Triangle is that constituents’ needs may often come behind the needs of the the bureaucracy, interest groups, and congress as they pursue their own goals. Regulations that benefit a small minority or pork barrel legislation that only affects a narrow constituency are results of the Iron Triangle.

Pork Barrel: The use of government funds in such ways as government projects, contracts, or grants in order to please legislators or voters and win votes

A benefit of the Iron Triangle is the cooperative benefit of sharing expertise between the three elements of the triangle.

Iron Triangle - Key takeaways

One way that policymaking is carried out is through the idea of the Iron Triangle.

The definition of an Iron Triangle is three elements consisting of interest groups, congressional committees, and bureaucratic agencies working in concert to create policy around a specific issue.

Iron Triangles are formed around symbiotic relationships between the three points of the Iron Triangle.

An example of an Iron Triangle is members of the Congressional Committee on Education, the Department of Education, and the National Education Association working together to create policy that is mutually beneficial.

The purpose of an Iron Triangle is to achieve policy goals and influence government in ways that are mutually beneficial for all three parties: interest groups, congressional committees, and the bureaucracy.

References

Fig. 1, Iron Triangle Diagram (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/Irontriangle.PNG) by : Ubernetizen vectorization (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Ubernetizen) In Public Domain
Fig. 2, Seal of the Department of Agriculture (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Seal_of_the_United_States_Department_of_Agriculture.svg) by U.S. Government. The original seal was designed by A. H. Baldwin, a USDA artist. In Public Domain
Fig. 3, Example of gift offered to politician by tobacco lobbyists (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tabakslobby.jpg) by Rein1953 (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Rein1953) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en)
Fig. 4, Seal of Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_Committee_on_Agriculture,_Nutrition,_and_Forestry#/media/File:Seal_of_the_United_States_Senate.svg) By Original: Maksim Vector: Ipankonin - Vectorized from SVG elements (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Ipankonin) Licensed by CC BY-SA 2.5 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)

Iron Triangle

StudySmarter Editorial Team

Iron Triangle Definition