Unit 1: Pressure Groups - an introduction

Pressure Groups 

Anti War Protest By Stop the War Coalition

What are pressure groups?

A pressure group is an organised group that seeks to influence government (public) policy or protect or advance a particular cause or interest.

Groups may promote a specific issue and raise it up the political agenda or they may have more general political and ideological objectives in mind when they campaign.

Pressure groups operate at: Local; Sub National (Regional); National and International level (including European Union)

PRESSURE GROUPS AND POLITICAL PARTIES 

Pressure Groups are different from Political Parties

(1) Different objectives

Parties seek representation and power through elections whereas pressure groups in the main seek political influence. Parties often focus on the national interest whereas groups may be concerned with sectional issues / single issues.

(2) Structure and organisation

In the main political parties are inherently more democratic. There are internal elections for the leadership and this is only sometimes the case with some pressure groups (most commonly trade unions).

(3) Size, resources and support

Political parties used to be mass membership vehicles. In the 1950s support for and membership of the main political parties was vast. Today the membership of political parties has significantly reduced in comparison. Pressure groups are much larger vehicles of political participation. The trade union movement for example boasts approximately 7.6m million members. Though, like parties membership is in decline, the number of trade unionists outnumbers the members of political parties by a ratio of about 20-1.

(4)Tactics

Political parties will employ traditional tactics of communication and campaigning which are seen as legitimate forms of expression. Pressure groups will also adopt the same tactics but many reserve the right to use protests and tactics of civil disobedience to put their points across. Pressure groups may also resort to deliberate law breaking.

(5) Success.

Political Parties enjoy, to a greater or lesser extent, some assurance of political success. Even the more fringe parties can lay claim to having achieved their aims.Plaid Cymru, the SNP, The Green Party, UKIP & the BNP have all experienced some limited forms of success, and for the first time since the National Government during the war the Liberal Democrats once again play a pivotal role in government.

The success of pressure groups is more difficult to judge. Pressure groups vary enormously in their ability to influence public policy. The major core insider groups  such as the CBI and the BMA will have vast (though often unseen) influence in terms of shaping policy. Outsider groups by contrast such as the Stop the War coalition will usually fail even with significant degrees of support. BY contrast the Gurkha’s successful campaign to settle in Britain had a high degree of public visibility.




Questions to discuss:

b) Explain the methods used by pressure groups to influence government. (10)
b) Explain three political functions of pressure groups (10)