The Influence of Pressure Groups on the Government
This essay will outline the significance to which pressure groups have
an influence on government and explain how they have fared under New
Labour governments.
Whilst the term ‘pressure groups’ may be relatively new, the concept
itself dates back as far as 1787. The Society for Effecting the
Abolition of the Slave Trade was led by William Wilberforce and Thomas
Clarkson and successfully campaigned for the abolition of the slave
trade. (Jones, 2004, p233)
Pressure groups are formed by a group of people who share a common
interest or goal. The intention of the group is to raise the profile
or the cause and/or advance it. Unlike political parties, they rarely
have a manifesto on a range of policies. Instead they campaign only
on specific policies in order to influence public policy formulated by
the likes of central or local government. (Grant, 1995, p3)
There are generally two types of group: sectional and cause groups.
Sectional groups comprise of individuals who have similar interests
and gain personally from being part of such a group. It includes
entities such as professional bodies like the British Medical
Association, the CBI and trade unions. This type of group is driven
by the interests of its members. Cause groups are formed in order to
achieve a specific objective. It could potentially attract any
individual who believes in the principle and the group is driven by
the interests of the cause rather than the individual members.
(Jackson, 2004)
Pressure groups can be categorised further into insider and outsider
groups. This distinction is concerned wi...
... middle of paper ...
... to social
movements to ensure their voice is heard. Failure to listen to this
voice will have serious ramifications for New Labour.
BIBLIOGRPAHY
============
Books
-----
Grant, W (1995) Pressure Groups, Politics and Democracy in Britain,
Harvester Wheatsheaf
Heywood (2002) Politics, Second Edition, Palgrave
House of Commons (1985), First Report from the Select Committee on
Members’ Interests, 1984/85, HMSO
Jones et al (2004) Politics UK, Fifth Edition, Pearson Longman
Smith, M (1995) Pressure Politics, Baseline
Journals
--------
Jackson, N (2004) Pressure Group Politics, Politics Review, September
Websites
--------
http://www.unison.org.uk/about/about.asp, 27 November 2005
http://www.dti.gov.uk/er/emar/tradeunion_membership2004.pdf 27
November 2005
Holmes, P, Introducing Politics for AS Level, London: Polity Press, 2008. [Chapter 8, sections 5, 6 & 7]
This essay will address whether New Labour contained policies with which it wished to pursue, or was solely developed in order to win elections. It is important to realise whether a political party that held office for approximately 13 years only possessed the goal of winning elections, or promoted policies which it wished to pursue. If a party that held no substance was governing for 13 years, it would be unfair to the people. New Labour was designed to win elections, but still contained policies which it wished to pursue. To adequately defend this thesis, one must look at the re-branding steps taken by New Labour and the new policies the party was going to pursue. Through analysis, it will be shown that New Labour promoted policies in regards
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.
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.
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.
Thelen, K. (2001) ‘Varieties of Labour Politics in the Developed Democracies’, in Hall, Peter A.; Soskice, David (eds.) Varieties of Capitalism: the Institutional Foundations of Comparative Advantage, pp. 71–103. New York: Oxford University Press
Shapiro, Ian, Rogers M. Smith, and Tarek E. Masoud, eds. Problems and Methods in the Study of Politics. Cambridge ; Cambridge University Press, 2004.
• Anticipate the kind of influence, positive or negative, these groups will have on your initiative
The Point of Pressure Groups Pressure groups are a collection of people that stress the points in which they want the Government to notice in order to bring about change. This is done for two different reasons. Firstly, it is done by sectional groups that are groups sectionally involved in defending their own economic interests, and bringing about change to improve the state of their interests such as the Confederation of Business Industry and National Farmers’. Secondly are cause or promotional groups that are organised to campaign on behalf of causes with no direct link to economic self-interest such as the RSPCA and National Trust. Pressure groups fall into two categories, which are insider and outsider groups.
Garner, R., Ferdinand, P. and Lawson, S. (2009) Introduction to Politics. 2nd edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Grant, W. (2004) „Pressure Politics: The Changing World of Pressure Groups‟, Parliamentary Affairs, 57(2): 408-419
...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.
British resistance to utopian ideals and adaptation to new challenges and responsibility was phenomenal. Political leaders of all hues and complexions were falling prey to democratic compulsions and were redefining their ideals. In relation to matters affecting the labour and the poor, they were abandoning their pitched positions in response to pragmatism. Transport, banking, agriculture, industry, trade; in a word, a large segment of economy, were subject to