Interest group

An interest group with a short summary of: its leader, their ideologies and traits, and its political status.

An interest group is a collection of pops that support certain political views and want to change the country to be more in line with those views. Interest groups are drawn from a number of different templates, but may vary in their exact views from country to country, based on factors such as the local religion, which social movements have appeared in the country or the personal views of their leader.

All individuals in all pops are either members of an interest group or politically inactive, with the ratio in each based on factors such as profession, wealth, literacy, etc. Importantly, a single pop can potentially have individual members supporting every interest group in the game.

Base interest groups

Interest groups form the nucleus of Victoria 3's political gameplay. There are 8 interest groups in the game (and an additional politically inactive group):

• Armed forces
• Petite bourgeoisie
• Devout
• Industrialists
• Intelligentsia
• Landowners
• Rural folk
• Trade unions
• Politically inactive

Interest groups' names may differ depending on the circumstances in the country. For example, the Siamese devout interest group is Theravada Monks, the Japanese armed forces interest group is Samurai, and the Russian landowners interest group is Gentry Assembly.

Ideology

Main article: Ideology

Interest groups have a number of ideologies which determine their views on which laws the country should or should not enact – interest groups generally favor laws that align with their beliefs and benefit them in some way.

Different interest groups have different ideologies (for example, the landowners are significantly more conservative than the trade unions), but these are not entirely set in stone. Ideologies can change over the course of the game and, the current leader of the interest group comes with their own personal ideology, which modifies which laws a group supports.

Additionally, some interest groups in certain countries have unique ideologies colored by their religion and culture, such as the Confucian Scholars interest group in Qing China who support a  Confucian ideology.

The default ideology setup for the interest groups are as follows:

Interest group	Armed Forces	Devout	Industrialists	Intelligentsia	Landowners	Petite Bourgeoisie	Rural Folk	Trade Unions
Base ideologies	Jingoist Loyalist Patriotic	Moralist Patriarchal Pious	Individualist Laissez faire Plutocratic	Anti-clerical Anti-slavery Liberal Republican	Paternalistic Patriarchal Stratocratic	Meritocratic Patriotic Reactionary	Agrarian Isolationist Particularist	Anti-slavery Egalitarian Populist Proletarian

Note: Interest groups' ideologies may differ based on country or law. For example, landowners gain the  Pro-Slavery ideology, if Slavery is allowed in the country.

Leader

See also: Character

All interest groups are led by a character. Interest group leaders gain the  Politician role and apply certain effects of their character traits to their interest group.

When an interest group's leader dies or otherwise retires if any existing commanders –  Generals or  Admirals – support that interest group and have a popularity of at least 0, then the character with the highest popularity becomes the new leader. If no existing characters meet both of these criteria, then a new character is generated as the new leader.

Leader ideology

An interest group leader's ideology is added to the interest group; if the leader's ideology differs from any of the interest group's inherent ideologies in law stances, the leader's ideology takes precedence. This can even cause an interest group to support laws it typically opposes, so long as that character leads the interest group.

Political strength

Individuals inside pops contribute political strength to their interest group of choice, with the amount they contribute again dependent on multiple factors, the main ones being their material wealth and the status (and/or votes) they are offered under the nation's power structure. For example, a single wealthy aristocrat in an oligarchy provides hundreds or even thousands times the political strength of a poor laborer.

Some pops have no political strength at all, usually due to being disenfranchised under the nation's laws (such as people of a religion or culture that is discriminated against, or women in countries that haven't instituted women's suffrage). These pops are "outside the system", unable to demand reform through the regular political system of interest groups, and instead having to rely on other methods to put pressure on the government.

Attraction

All pops have attraction scores toward interest groups and divide up their political strength proportionally among them.

Not all pops can be attracted to all interest groups. Various pop conditions, such as discrimination status, religion, culture, employment, literacy, but primarily profession determine which pops are able to support which interest group. The pop divides its support among the interest groups according to their relative weight, as determined by the table below.

	Armed forces	Devout	Industrialists	Intelligentsia	Landowners	Petite bourgeoisie	Rural folk	Trade unions
Requirements	One of: Pop is not discriminated Pop's profession is Aristocrats, Officers, or Servicemen	Pop follows the state's religion	Country must be centralized	Pop's Literacy is over 25% Country must be centralized		Pop has primary culture Pop is employed in Manufacturing, Service, Urban Facilities, or Government	Pop is employed in Agriculture, Ranching, or Plantations	Pop is not employed in Agriculture, Ranching, or Plantations Country must be centralized
Base Weight	0	25	0	0	0	75	50	50
Other Weight Effects	+25 if not discriminated	−2 per 10% Literacy over 50% except Clergymen		+10 if Literacy ≥ 50% +2 per 10% Literacy over 50%				Final weight multiplied by: x0.5 if not Egalitarianism x0.5 if not Labor Movement
Professions
Academics				+200
Aristocrats	+50	+50		+50	+200
Bureaucrats				+100
Capitalists			+200	+50
Clergymen		+200			+50		+100
Clerks				+100		+50
Engineers			+50
Farmers					+50		+200
Laborers								+50
Machinists								+100
Officers	+200				+50
Peasants		+50					+200
Servicemen	+100
Shopkeepers			+50			+200
Slaves

Bolstering and suppression

Unless the country has enacted  Guaranteed Liberties, it can  bolster or  suppress interest groups, increasing or decreasing that groups attraction by some amount, as determined by its Free Speech law.

Clout

The total political strength of all pops in an interest group determines its clout – the amount of political weight it can assert on the country and the government. The interest group's clout value is the percentage of the political strength it holds out of all the political strength in the country. For example, if all pops in the country have 100k political strength and the industrialists have 30k political strength, then they control 30% of the clout in the country.

Clout determines the interest group's classification within their country – whether they are considered powerful, influential, or marginalized.

An interest group becomes marginalized if their clout drops below 4%, unless they are in government. They become influential again if it increases above 5%.

Similarly, a interest group becomes powerful if their clout rises above 20%, and influential again if it drops below 18%.

Approval

See also: Political movement

Summary of Approval Sources

Source	Approval
Law Stances
Strongly Approves	+2
Approves	+1
Disapproves	−1
Strongly Disapproves	−2
Law Changes
One step	±5
Two steps	±10
Three or more steps	±20
Pop political strength
Each ~6% loyalist	+1
Each ~6% radical	−1

Interest groups have a level of approval, which has two main sources: stances on laws, and pop loyalists and radicals. Other factors may affect approval as well, such as the player's choices in certain events. Total approval is capped between −20 and +20.

Each interest group and its leader's ideologies set its stance towards various laws from on a five-point scale, from Strongly Disapprove (−2) to Strongly Approve (+2). Approval from laws is the sum of all stances, capped at ±5.

In addition to the stance on enacted laws, proposed and recent law changes have an increased effect on an interest group's approval. A change which moves one step along their stance scale adds ±5, two steps adds ±10, and three or more steps adds ±20. This effect is added throughout the proposed change, and when a law is fully enacted, it remains and decays over five years. Cancelling the proposed law change immediately removes this effect. The effect of law changes on approval is not directly capped and can stack when changing several laws in a short time.

The percentage of pops supporting an interest group which are loyalists or radicals also affects approval, up to ±15 if all of the pops are loyalists or radicals. The actual approval effect is determined by the percentage of pop political strength, if more political strength comes from loyalist pops, it is positive; otherwise if more comes from radicals, it is negative. This scaled by the relative amount, for example if two-thirds (66%) is loyalist and one-third (33%) radicals, the approval effect is +5 as the loyalists provide +10 which is offset by the radicals' −5.

Government and military wages affect certain interest groups by ±1 for each step above or below normal wages. Government wages affect Intelligentsia and Petite Bourgeoisie approval, and military wages affect Armed Forces approval.

If a group is powerful and in opposition, their approval drops by −1.

Finally, there are many events, especially surrounding law changes, that add temporary approval modifiers to various interest groups.

Effects

If an interest group's approval is −10 or less, they are Angry. They cannot be added to the government, but do not leave it if they're already in it. They also contribute their clout to the radicalization of any movement they support, possibly starting a revolution.

From −9 to −5, a group is Unhappy, activating their negative trait.

From −4 to +4, a group is Neutral, providing no special effect.

From +5 to +9, a group is Happy, activating their first positive trait. They also stop backing any movements.

At +10 or above, a group is Loyal, activating their second positive trait.

Traits

Each group has three traits associated with it, one negative, and two positive. If group's approval is −5 or less, their negative trait is active. Approval of at least +5 activates their first positive trait, and +10 or more activates both of their positive traits.

Traits of a powerful group are twice as powerful, while marginalized groups cannot activate their traits at all.

Interest group	Unhappy trait (approval ≤5)	Happy trait (approval ≥5)	Loyal trait (approval ≥10)
Armed forces	Material Waste +25% Military goods cost	Veteran Consultation −10% Military technology cost	Patriotic Fervor +15% Unit defense +15% Unit offense
Devout	Pious Fiction −10% State education access	Divine Right +10% Authority	Be Fruitful and Multiply +2.5% Birth rate
Industrialists	Tax Avoidance −10% Manufacturing tax	Engines of Progress −10% Production technology cost	Job Creators +10% Capitalist investment pool contribution
Intelligentsia	Social Criticism −10% Prestige	Avant-garde −10% Society technology cost	Propagandists +25% State migration pull
Landowners	Noble Privileges −10% Agriculture, ranching, plantations tax	Family Ties +10% Influence	Noblesse Oblige +10% Aristocrat investment pool contribution
Petite bourgeoisie	Xenophobia −10% Influence +100% Radicals from discrimination	Middle Managers +10% Bureaucracy	Treasury Bonds −10% Loan interest rate
Rural folk	Old Ways −10% Tech spread	Honest Work +10% Agriculture, ranching, logging throughput	Farmer's Markets +10% Infrastructure
Trade unions	Work-to-rule −15% Construction Efficiency	Industrial Organizers +10% Manufacturing throughput	Solidarity +10% Workforce ratio

Government and Opposition

Main article: Government

Interest groups which are not  marginalized are either  in government or  in opposition.

An interest group in government contributes its clout to the success chance of passing the laws they support, and to the stall chance of the laws they oppose. Proposing law changes usually requires an interest group in government which supports that law as well. Interest groups in opposition don't contribute their clout directly; however, unless they are happy or loyal, they may start a movement opposing a law change or demanding that a law be passed. By adding their clout to movement support, they can still affect the chance of success or stall.

Legitimacy

Legitimacy represents how well a government can function based on popular support for the ruling interest groups and how well those groups can work together. Legitimacy is strongly affected by Governance Principles and Distribution of Power laws. Legitimacy is increased by including high clout interest groups and high vote parties in government and decreased by having too many interest groups or parties, or groups which are too ideologically opposed in government. More autocratic forms of government also gain legitimacy by including the ruler's preferred interest group in government.

Reforming government

Government can be reformed at any time by adding or removing interest groups. Any group in opposition can be added freely, but removing a group in government radicalizes 25% of its members. In countries with voting, elections provide an opportunity to reform the government without angering interest groups' members – the first reform within six months of a finished election does not radicalize members of groups removed from government.

There is a quick reform option which presents the three highest legitimacy options available, but note that this does not include the current government nor does it take radicalization from removing interest groups into account.

Parties

Main article: Political party

Countries with voting and elections also have political parties, alliances of interest groups with similar concerns. Parties count as a single group for the purposes of legitimacy, and so allow more interest groups to be added to the government without penalty. However, in order to add or remove a party from government, all of its member interest groups must be added or removed together. There is no penalty for leaving an interest group out when it wants to join a party, except that it is impossible to reform government while a party is "split" this way, without unifying the party in government or in opposition.

Parties gain additional strength from votes of the last election. Pops do not vote for interest groups directly but rather for political parties, therefore interest groups that do not join a party miss out on a large amount of potential political strength.

Party Attraction

Interest groups update their party affiliations at the beginning of each election campaign and join the party they have the highest attraction towards, discounting parties that do not meet the requirements to exist or that the interest group is otherwise prohibited from joining. All Interest Groups have a base attraction of −5 towards all political parties and must have a final attraction of at least +1 in order to join a party. If an interest group does not have positive attraction towards any valid party, then it does not join any party or participate in the current election.

Below is a partial list of each interest group's attraction factors towards political parties as well as which other interest groups share those same factors. These tables only take typical core ideologies into account; leader ideologies in particular can greatly affect an interest group's party attraction. See Political party for a full list of all possible attraction factors.

Armed Forces Party Attraction

Condition	Attraction	Shared With
Inherent to ideology	+5 Conservative, +4 Fascist	Petite Bourgeoisie
Is Powerful	+10 Military
Country has Peasant Levies	+6 Agrarian, +3 Anarchist	Rural Folk
Country does not have Per-Capita Taxation, Proportional Taxation or Graduated Taxation	+3 Communist, +3 Fascist, +3 Social Democrat
Country has Guaranteed Liberties	+2 Conservative	Petite Bourgeoisie
Researched Law Enforcement and country has No Police	+3 Conservative, +3 Fascist, +3 Military	Petite Bourgeoisie, Landowners
Country does not have Per-Capita Taxation, Proportional Taxation or Graduated Taxation	+3 Military	Trade Unions
Country has Consumption-Based Taxation	+3 Social Democrat

Devout Party Attraction

Condition	Attraction	Shared With
Inherent to ideology	+5 Conservative	Landowners
Is Powerful	+10 Religious
Country has Public Schools	+2 Conservative	Industrialists
Country has Total Separation	+5 Conservative
Country has Freedom of Conscience	+3 Conservative
Country has Women's Suffrage	+3 Conservative, +3 Religious	Landowners
Country has Women in the Workplace	+2 Conservative	Landowners
Researched Law Enforcement, Country has Right of Assembly or Protected Speech	+3 Conservative	Landowners
Country does not have Monarchy or Theocracy	+3 Conservative	Landowners
Country has Theocracy	+5 Religious

Industrialists Party Attraction

Condition	Attraction	Shared With
Inherent to ideology	+5 Free Trade
Inherent to ideology	+5 Liberal	Intelligentsia
Is Powerful	+10 Free Trade
Country has Serfdom	+10 Agrarian, +5 Anarchist, +5 Communist, +5 Liberal, +3 Radical, +5 Social Democrat	Intelligentsia, Rural Folk, Trade Unions
Country has Universal Suffrage	+5 Conservative	Landowners
Country has Graduated Taxation	+2 Conservative	Landowners
Country has Public Health Insurance	+2 Conservative
Country has Public Schools	+2 Conservative	Devout
Country has Regulatory Bodies or Worker's Protections	+5 Conservative, +5 Free Trade	Landowners
Country has Wage Subsidies or Old Age Pension	+5 Conservative, +5 Free Trade	Landowners
Country does not have Child Labor Allowed	+3 Free Trade
Country does not have Free Trade	+3 Free Trade
Country does not have Oligarchy or Wealth Voting	+3 Free Trade
Researched Currency Standards, country does not have Per-Capita Taxation or Consumption-Based Taxation	+3 Free Trade	Petite Bourgeoisie
Country has Graduated Taxation	+3 Free Trade	Landowners, Petite Bourgeoisie
Researched Central Planning, country has Command Economy	+3 Free Trade	Landowners, Rural Folk
Researched Academia, country has No Schools or Religious Schools	+3 Free Trade	Intelligentsia
Country has No Schools or Religious Schools	+3 Liberal, +3 Social Democrat	Trade Unions

Intelligentsia Party Attraction

Condition	Attraction	Shared With
Inherent to ideology	+5 Liberal, -15 Religious
Inherent to ideology	+5 Liberal	Industrialists
Country primary culture has Scandinavian Heritage	+10 Agrarian	Rural Folk
Country has Local Police Force or Militarized Police Force	+6 Agrarian	Rural Folk
Country has Serfdom	+10 Agrarian, +5 Anarchist, +5 Communist, +5 Liberal, +3 Radical, +5 Social Democrat	Industrialists, Rural Folk, Trade Unions
Country has Debt Slavery	+10 Agrarian
Country has Outlawed Dissent	+3 Anarchist, +3 Liberal, +6 Radical, +3 Social Democrat	Trade Unions
Country has State Religion	+3 Anarchist, +3 Communist, +3 Liberal
Country has Slave Trade or Legacy Slavaery	+5 Anarchist, +5 Communist, +3 Radical
Country has Monarchy or Theocracy	+3 Anarchist, +3 Communist, +3 Liberal, +10 Radical, +3 Social Democrat	Trade Unions
Country has Autocracy	+3 Free Trade
Researched Academia, country has No Schools or Religious Schools	+3 Free Trade	Industrialists
Country has Hereditary Bureaucrats	+3 Liberal	Petite Bourgeoisie
Country has Legal Guardianship	+3 Liberal	Trade Unions
Country has Ethnostate, National Supremacy or Racial Segregation	+3 Liberal
Country has Local Police Force or Militarized Police Force	+3 Liberal	Rural Folk
Country does not have Universal Suffrage	+10 Radical	Trade Unions
Country has National Guard or Secret Police	+6 Radical
Country has Legacy Slavery or Debt Slavery	+5 Social Democrat

Landowners Party Attraction

Condition	Attraction	Shared With
Inherent to ideology	+5 Conservative	Devout
Is not marginalized	-5 Religious
Clout ≥ 15%	+5 Conservative
Country has Free Trade	+6 Agrarian, +3 Communist, +3 Social Democrat	Rural Folk, Trade Unions
Country has Universal Suffrage	+5 Conservative	Industrialists
Country has Universal Suffrage	+3 Fascist
Country has Graduated Taxation	+2 Conservative	Industrialists
Country has Graduated Taxation	+3 Free Trade	Industrialists, Petite Bourgeoisie
Country has Women's Suffrage	+3 Conservative, +3 Religious	Devout
Country has Women in the Workplace	+2 Conservative	Devout
Researched Law Enforcement, Country has Right of Assembly or Protected Speech	+3 Conservative	Devout
Country does not have Monarchy or Theocracy	+3 Conservative	Devout
Country has Regulatory Bodies or Worker's Protections	+5 Conservative, +5 Free Trade	Industrialists
Country has Wage Subsidies or Old Age Pension	+5 Conservative, +5 Free Trade	Industrialists
Researched Law Enforcement, Country has No Police	+3 Conservative, +3 Fascist, +3 Military	Armed Forces, Petite Bourgeoisie
Country does not have Per-Capita Taxation or Consumption-Based Taxation	+3 Free Trade	Rural Folk
Researched Central Planning, Country has Command Economy	+3 Free Trade	Industrialists, Rural Folk

Petite Bourgeoisie Party Attraction

Condition	Attraction	Shared With
Inherent to ideology	−3 Communist, +5 Fascist
Inherent to ideology	+5 Conservative, +4 Fascist	Armed Forces
Country has No Migration Controls	+6 Agrarian	Rural Folk, Trade Unions
Country has Land-Based Taxation	+6 Agrarian, +3 Anarchist, +3 Communist, +3 Social Democrat	Rural Folk
Country has Multiculturalism	+2 Conservative
Country has Guaranteed Liberties	+2 Conservative	Armed Forces
Researched Law Enforcement, Country has No Police	+3 Conservative, +3 Fascist, +3 Military	Armed Forces
Country does not have Proportional Taxation or Per-Capita Taxation	+3 Fascist, +3 Military
Researched Currency Standards, Country does not have Per-Capita Taxation or Consumption-Based Taxation	+3 Free Trade	Industrialists
Country has Graduated Taxation	+3 Free Trade	Industrialists, Landowners
Country has Hereditary Bureaucrats	+3 Liberal	Intelligentsia

Rural Folk Party Attraction

Condition	Attraction	Shared With
Is powerful	+10 Agrarian
Country has primary culture with Scandinavian Heritage	+10 Agrarian	Intelligentsia
Country has No Migration Controls	+6 Agrarian	Trade Unions, Petite Bourgeoisie
Country has No Migration Controls	+5 Fascist
Country has Local Police Force or Militarized Police Force	+6 Agrarian, +3 Liberal	Intelligentsia
Country has Land-Based Taxation	+6 Agrarian, +3 Anarchist, +3 Social Democrat	Petite Bourgeoisie
Country has Free Trade	+6 Agrarian, +3 Communist, +3 Social Democrat	Trade Unions, Landowners
Country has Lassiez-Faire	+6 Agrarian, +3 Communist, +3 Social Democrat	Trade Unions
Country has Peasant Levies	+6 Agrarian, +3 Anarchist, +3 Communist, +3 Fascist, +3 Military	Armed Forces
Country has Serfdom	+10 Agrarian, +5 Anarchist, +5 Communist, +5 Liberal, +3 Radical, +5 Social Democrat	Trade Unions, Intelligentsia, Industrialists
Country does not have Per-Capita Taxation or Consumption-Based Taxation	+3 Free Trade	Landowners
Country has Command Economy	+3 Free Trade	Landowners, Industrialists
Country has Debt Slavery	+5 Liberal
Country has Serfdom or Debt Slavery	+3 Radical

Trade Unions Party Attraction

Condition	Attraction	Shared With
Inherent to Trade Unions	+2 Communist, −2 Fascist
Country has No Migration Controls	+6 Agrarian	Rural Folk, Petite Bourgeoisie
Country has Free Trade	+6 Agrarian, +3 Communist, +3 Social Democrat	Rural Folk, Landowners
Country has Laissez-Faire	+6 Agrarian, +3 Communist, +3 Social Democrat	Rural Folk
Country has Serfdom	+10 Agrarian, +5 Anarchist, +5 Communist, +5 Liberal, +3 Radical, +5 Social Democrat	Intelligentsia, Industrialists, Rural Folk
Country has Outlawed Dissent	+3 Anarchist, +3 Liberal, +6 Radical, +3 Social Democrat	Intelligentsia
Country has Monarchy or Theocracy	+3 Anarchist, +3 Communist, +3 Liberal, +10 Radical, +3 Social Democrat	Intelligentsia
Country does not have Graduated Taxation	+3 Communist, +3 Social Democrat
Country has Serfdom	+10 Agrarian, +5 Anarchist, +5 Communist, +5 Liberal, +3 Radical, +5 Social Democrat	Intelligentsia, Industrialists, Rural Folk
Country has No Schools or Religious Schools	+3 Liberal, +3 Social Democrat	Industrialists
Country has Legal Guardianship	+3 Liberal	Intelligentsia
Country does not have Per-Capita Taxation, Proportional Taxation or Graduated Taxation	+3 Military	Armed Forces
Country does not have Universal Suffrage	+10 Radical	Intelligentsia