Subgovemments as Determinants of Political Viability

The subgovernment model of policy making has been in popular usage for more than twenty years and has been relied upon to explain a great deal of policy output. 1 Briefly, the theory holds that tripartite alliances formed between congressional committees or subcommittees, interest groups, and government agencies are all concerned with the same substantive policy. Their relationship is mutually advantageous; through the expenditure of government funds for their common policy interests the legislator gains support; the government agency increases its budget, power, and personnel base; and the interest groups receive government largess. These three-sided alliances are also known as iron triangles, policy whirlpools, cozy little triangles, and subsystems. As James Anderson pointed out, political scientists have devoted considerable attention to the examination of subsystems.2 But despite the popularity