> Not really, since they'd be "special interests" in the classic sense. They're not "constitutive" of the U.S. except insofar as the U.S. is constituted of a series of interests. But if the "Israel lobby" is at the heart of things in some constitutive sense than it's not a special interest but a core concern of the U.S. foreign policy elite.
>
I'd maybe use the analogy of the "small business lobby." It is a lobby and acts like one. But the mythology of "small business" means so much more to America than just the sum of the NFIB's lobbying dollars. It plays a big role in sustaining the whole capitalist ideology. So I'd bet that has an effect on the policy outputs, not that I've studied it.
SA