Investigating the Factors that Lead to Pressure Groups Succeeding or Failing

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Investigating the Factors that Lead to Pressure Groups Succeeding or Failing

There are factors which lead to pressure groups succeeding or failing.

I will be discussing the factors which are required for a pressure

group to be successful in achieving their aims.

Firstly, one may think the size of a group is a factor and more people

mean more votes. A government is more likely to respond to pressure

groups by large groups because there are more potential votes to be

won or lost. However, size is not always considered a factor because

even pressure groups which are small in size can make an impact, since

it depend on the way the members of the pressure group think, as in

being imaginative, tactical thinkers etc. It’s not quantity but the

quality of the members of the pressure groups.

Furthermore, the government is more likely to be influenced by large

numbers of its own potential supporters who make up a pressure group’s

membership. For instance, if the pressure group was a traditional

supporter of the Labour government, then the Conservative government

is unlikely to be sympathetic to that pressure group. So some

pressure groups will expect better treatment from one party than

another and success or failure will therefore depending on the

government in power at the time.

Finance is a crucial factor leading to a pressure group being

successful, since running effective campaigns can be very expensive,

so wealthy supporters provides an obvious advantage. Also small

pressure groups with large finances can use funds to finance political

parties and so receive sympathetic treatment and gain rewards. For

example, the governments refusal to ban all advertising on cigarettes,

and the lack of action taken by them to break the brewers’ virtual

monopoly over public houses. A more financed group can employ more

people, therefore employees have the time and expertise to ensure that

campaigns are organised in a professional manner, however linking this

back to size, it does not guarantee success.

A lot has to do with the pressure group itself and organisation is an

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