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Pressure groups and democracy
Pressure groups and democracy
Pressure groups and democracy
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Pressure Groups and Their Influence on the Government
Britain is often referred to as a homogenous society as the public
tend to share similar political views. However, more recently, there
has been a decline in membership to political parties and an increase
in the membership of pressure groups. In this essay I will define
pressure groups, information surrounding such as the amount of power
they have and how effectively they can influence institutions of
power.
A pressure group is an organised group which has as one of its
principal purposes the exercise of influence on institutions (mainly
political) in order to secure decisions favourable to the interests
the group represents or to discourage decisions from being taken which
would be unfavourable to those interests. Pressure groups also are
slightly more complex and have many different forms, statuses (within
society) and amount of influence.
Pressure groups are divided into the following sub-groups: Causal (or
promotional) groups, Sectional (or Protection) groups and also how
close they are to the government known as either Insider or Outsider
groups.
Causal groups are involved with a particular issue or issues and serve
this cause by promoting it. These groups vary in size and aims and can
be permanent (such as friends of the earth) who continually campaign
for their particular cause or can be temporary (such as CND, the
campaign for nuclear disarmament) who would disperse if their cause
was attained or irreversibly lost.
Sectional groups represent and further the interests of a particular
part of society and as a result the members of these groups are more
...
... middle of paper ...
... and unorganised. The groups themselves may not be representative of
their members as many members' views are ignored if they don't comply
with the ideologies of the leaders or decision makers of that group.
The methods of influence some groups use increase social discontent
and political instability by intensifying social frustration and
injustice felt by certain sections of the population. This can ignore
the good of the whole of the community and this kind of civil
disobedience can't be justified in today's democratic system.
In conclusion, pressure groups can both detract from and strengthen
democracy to a certain extent. Pressure groups are an essential
dimension of any democracy, yet they can endanger it if sectional
groups undermine the public interest or if the methods they use are
corrupt or intimidating.
Existing within the movement must be a leader or leaders, as well as a large number of committed followers or members. Additionally, social movements have “organizations or coalitions” working as a guiding backbone for collectivity and regulation (Stewart,
Politics is defined as “the way people decide who gets what, when, where, how, and why—without resorting to violence” (McDonough 20). The author asserts that politics is the alternative pathway for a society to make decisions besides choosing violent means to go about doing so. Instead of using force, politicians use words and the method of persuasion in order to get what they want. When a society has a group of people who feel they are not fairly represented by their elected officials, they will often turn to violence in order to implement changes to the political process that will put in place the rules and regulations they are seeking.
Political systems within the United States work together to establish laws and create boundaries for their people. Government officials work with the Senate in Congress to help establish regulations not only for the American people but also for corporations in order to not become monopolies in today’s market. This all corresponds to a legislative process in order for Congress to have a clear idea of passing effective laws that help reinforce results within our society. Members of Congress and political affiliations are impacted by representatives from large business corporations through the process of bribing these government officials into supporting the ideas and desires of these corporations. In order for this to occur, these companies engage in lobbying. Lobbying is the attempt to influence government officials in decision making processes or swaying the government by employing tactics through various agreements in the form of verbal or written statements to public officials in Congress. This usually occurs through donations of large amounts of money to members of Congress as a way of bribing them to support the representatives of these corporations. Therefore, corporations have widely influenced Congress, making it difficult to pass laws and bills that are not in favor of these corporations. Thus, lobbying is influenced by money and promotes the interests of these specific corporations.
After our discussion Rick formed a meeting to begin organizing a lobby group. They created an agenda which included an invite of social service agencies to the meeting to discuss suggestions from them on how to develop a lobby group. They prepared a mission statement believing it will unite the group, as well as provide focus and draw attention to the lobby group. In this meeting the five set up an outline that involved organizing the group to address the needs of people with disabilities and how the inequality and stigma they face creates social barriers. They chose to focus on the challenges that Rick and the initial six members were experiencing which are lack funding by the government in the way of inadequate assistance for housing, personal finances and jobs. In this meeting they decided to recruit members through the local paper, the recreation center and door to door canvassing. One of the members suggested using social media and the United Way offered to help by placing a thread on their web page. The six members share their personal stories via a video on the website. The website would be filled with current information about the effects on society when there is lack of adequate resources in a city and have a discussion forum and sign up tab. They decided to take advantage of the fact an election was imminent in the next 12 months by preparing to lobby the elected representatives in their district.
There are many different definitions of what a pressure group is Peter Lynch argues that a pressure groups is ‘Private, voluntary associations that wish to influence or control particular public policies, without becoming the government and controlling all public policy (Lynch, 2007, p. 245). Another definition is ‘Pressure groups are social aggregates with some level of cohesion and shared aims which attempt to influence the political decision-making process’ (Ball, A.R. and Millard, F, 1986, pp. 33-4). A final definition is ‘A pressure group is any organization that aims it influence public policy by seeking to persuade decision-making by lobbying rather than by standing for election’ (Coxall, 2001, p. 3). Overall pressure groups exist to help groups of people or causes, to promote their interest and will try to influence a certain section of society whether it is the government or the general p...
Public policy is the course of actions taken by the government that includes laws, plans, actions and the behavior of the government. The most effective way to influence public policy would be to lobby for the interest group that supports the problem that needs to be addressed by society and the government. Interest groups are organizations of people with shared goals to influence specific public policies, such as the National Rifle Association wanting to protect gun rights. The representatives for these particular interest groups are called lobbyists, whom are registered to inform the Clerk of the House and the Secretary of the Senate of the issue or laws being addressed, what agencies/branches of the government are being contacted, and the amount of money being spent on these issues. They can also represent private individuals or the general public. The word itself implies that lobbyists are the ones who directly contact the lawmakers of congress or other government officials, while making indirect contact through raising awareness in their communities for action. In order to make change, lobbying would be most effective because they are honest and assist the government with legislations other than their own, they work hard with the community and politicians, and most importantly they are the most knowledgeable and experienced on issues and politics so that the best decisions are able to be made.
The Human Rights Campaign is the largest gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender advocacy group in the nation. With over 400,000 members, the group is able to lobby very effectively in Washington and has an impressive legislative record. The HRC began in 1980 as a fund to raise money for gay-supportive congressional candidates. It was meant to be a response to the successful right-wing groups at the time, including the National Conservative Political Action Committee and Moral Majority. By 1984, the Human Rights Campaign Fund was effectively supporting congressional candidates, raising over 475,000 dollars. By 1990, the HRC had a membership of 25 thousand, and was organizing marches in the capitol. Between 1990 and the present, the Campaign grew to it’s current size nearing half of a million members, and the group’s PAC contributed over 5 million dollars to lobbying efforts. These efforts focus on four issues: First, it lobbies to increase efforts to fight HIV/AIDS. Secondly, the HRC aims to use federal legislation and workplace advocacy to combat discrimination in the workplace. Third, an effort is made to pass legislation against anti-gay hate crimes. Lastly, the Campaign works to pass legislation addressing lesbian health issues.
In today’s politics, interest groups play a large role in the government system. An interest Group is defined as 'an organized body of individuals who try to influence public policy.' This system is designed so that interest groups would be an instrument of public influence on politics to create changes, but would not threaten the government much. These organizations are either made up of people who represent a different organization or people who represent themselves. Interest groups represent the citizens’ interests and views, while expressing their own needs as well. They are the link between people and politics, giving a way for the public to voice their opinions. Members of interest groups use different tactics to basically impose their wants or needs onto the government by lobbying, educating, and campaigning.
Essentially, interest groups use many different tactics to accomplish their central goals but this paper will detail 2 of them. The first being lobbying, which is the act of persuading businesses as well as government leaders to help a specific organization by changing laws or creating events in favor of that group. Interest groups use this technique by hiring someone to represent them and advocate their cause to on the behalf of the entire group. These hired representatives usually have more than enough experience within the political field and are able to persuade connections within the government for help with their concerns. This method gets a lot of criticism because although lobbyist offer their input to government officials on pending laws, they only look at what is favorable for their cause. When trying to make a difference you have to not only reflect on your argument but on the side affects of that argument as
Citizens can join any interests group that center their goals and concern; no matter how specific they may be. For example, the National Women Organization, which fight for equal rights for women. There are different types of interest groups such as business, labor and public interest groups (Hays, 2001). Each interest group’s goals are different, but have the same general idea. Their goal is to influence the public policy for their interest group. Direct strategies of a interest group are lobbying, evaluating government officials, building connections, and offering campaign assistance. Indirect strategies of a interest group would be precipitating public pressure, using elector as lobbyists, and public protest demonstrations. For example, Angelina Jolie lobby for United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees(Berry&Wilcox,
The “advocacy explosion” in the United States in the 20th century has been caused by the extreme increase in the number of interest groups in the United States. The general public views the increase and the groups themselves as a cancer that has come to the body of American politics and is spreading. The explosion in the number of interest groups and interest group members and finances has had an effect on the decline of the American political party and partisanship, the effect on democracy and the public interest, and the bias that has come with interest group competition.
1. What is the difference between a. How does lobbying work in government? Lobbying is an enormous business. A lobbyist is an advocate who seeks to influence members of the government (like members of Congress) to endorse legislation that would advantage their group. The lobbying occupation is a lawful and essential part of our democratic political procedure that is not extremely well implicit by the broad population.
(Turner and Killian 1987) cited in (Diani 1992, p. 4) define social movements as a “collectivity acting with some continuity to promote or resist a change in the society or organisation of which it is part. As a collectivity a movement is a group with indefinite and shifting membership and with leadership whose position is determined more by informal response of adherents than by formal procedures for legitimizing authority”. Turner and Killian regard a social movement as a peculiar kind of collective behavior that is contrasted to regularity and institutional behavior. Additionally, Turner believes that social movements do not necessarily coincide with movement organisations, although these organisations can carry out a large part of the movement tasks and it is often help to control and speak for movements (Diani 1992).
Pressure groups are known to be small and extremely diverse formed on the basis of interest and activities, their functions give them a high public profile where minds are influenced and driven to make change. “A Pressure group is an organisation which seeks to influence the details of a comparatively small range of public policies and which is not a function of a recognised political party” (Baggott, 1995: p.2). An aim of pressure groups is to generate support which can influence political agendas; this can directly persuade the government to consider taking action. In this essay I will concentrate upon exploring on various issues on pressure groups, discussing the relationship between the groups, their use of the media and their status as “insiders” and “outsiders” in the political process. Pressure groups have two main types of groups the insiders and outsiders, which each promote a common cause with a different relationship with the media and political party making one as an unheard voice in the public sphere. To the public Pressure groups is another form where the public can engage in politics, participating directly in the political process. I will also intricate in this essay the growths of pressure groups due to the use of the media and their political engagement. The size of a group is a basic indicator of how much public support they get especially those that posse’s open membership, they mobilise through demonstrations, protest involving some non members through organised events. The different types of well known pressure grou...
...has so much power. The findings of this research could be used by campaigners in an attempt to swing an election in their favour, creating an unfair bias in parliament and denigrating the ideals of democracy.