A pressure group is an
amalgamation of people who have come together to change
government policy over an issue. In the USA they are called Interest Groups (or sometimes
Special Interest Groups). They exert influence on the
government in many ways.
- Lobbying: The pressure group can lobby an influencial person in the political system who might be able to alter policy.
- Education: The pressure group can educate either the executive, the legislature, the judiciary or the people on the issues that the pressure group is interested in and the side that the pressure group believes to be true. This leads to political pressure being put on the decision makers by the "educated" people.
- Direct Action: This activity tends to be the tool more of outsider groups than insider groups (see below). Using direct action often creates great pressure on a government and gives the group a lot of media exposure but governments don't always cave into the demands of the protestors (for example, the fuel protests against the Labour government (in the UK). The protestors blockaded refinaries etc. to try and force the government to lower fuel tax but the government refused to give in. Eventually public opinion forced the protestors to stop).
A pressure group can be classified in many different ways. They can be either:
(or rarely)
These classifications can be mixed and matched to apply to pretty much any catagory (I know of no exceptions) such as
insider cause group or
sectional outsider/
insider group.
You also get what are called NIMBY groups (Not In My Back Yard) which fight for a specific local issue (such as a motorway being built near their house).
There are also many campaigns that attain their goal and then disband such as the Snowdrop Campaign that fought to ban handguns in Britain after Dunblane.
What Makes a Pressure Group Effective?
There are many factors which can affect how effective a pressure group is in its task.
How Pressure Groups Enhance Democracy
In the UK, pressure groups play a key role in enhancing democracy (I assume this is the case elsewhere in the world and the following points will be easily adapted to different political systems). Since the UK political system has evolved from a monarchy to a parliamentary system it has not had revolutionary changes to its constitution. This means that their are not many checks and balances written into the constitution to control the executive (or the legislature/judiciary for that matter). This means that the executive has the ability to do whatever it wishes to as long as it has a majority in the House of Commons. This can lead to the position of an elected dictator (the Prime Minister) being in absolute control.
However, as the constitution evolved to allow this sort of position, so have other checks and balances also grown to fill the void. Pressure groups are one of these checks. Grown from the increasing number of trade unions, pressure groups have gained great esteem in the political system. This is because they are seen to benefit democracy in the UK.
Over the years voter apathy has increased leading to the government being elected into power with decreasingly small percentages of the electorates' votes. This means that the wishes of the people as a whole are not being portrayed by the government (though this is their fault for not voting in the first place). Pressure groups allow the public to participate in the political system apart from just voting. They allow like minded people to work together in an orgainised manner. The system at the moment doesn't allow much interaction between the people and government apart from the constituency link between constituents and their MP. Pressure groups change this.
They also bring onto the television screens of the people political issues. The government and the people may not have liked the fuel protests but it brought to the limelight the idea of taxation, especially as a means to cut down on a product (the same way that cigarettes are heavily taxed, petrol is taxed heavily in the UK to keep the price artificially high to try and persuade people to stop using their cars).
They play an important role in representing the views of the minorities in society. The electoral system used at the moment (First Past the Post) is a simple plurality system and so there is barely any representation at all. This means that the views of the minorities are often misrepresnted in Parliament. A pressure group for that minority allows them to be represented as a whole and so they (and the government) can formulate policies through this group. So, for example, the views of enviromentalists may not be represented through the election of a Conservative government but their views can be represented via a pressure group(s) which can attempt to influence the government.
Pressure groups also play a very strong scrutiny role. In the adverserial parliamentary system the opposition is supposed to scrutinise the government. But if the opposition is weak or divided then it will not scrutinise as well as it should. The second chamber also may not be up to the task of scrutinising government. Pressure groups on the other hand constantly watch the government and publish items that show the government going against what that pressure group wants. With the wide range of pressure groups the government ends up being scrutinised on a wide range of issues constantly. They also aid John Major's Open Government initiative by creating an easy, accessible way for ministers to express ("leak") government business as well as being an institution for scrutinising government documentation that has been released.
The educational aspect of pressue groups' role is also very important. One of the faults with democracy (and direct democracy especially) is the fact that the people are often ill informed and therefore will probably make bad decisions. Pressure groups alleviate this by teaching the public on issues (political or otherwise). Thought they tend to be fairly one sided a lot of the time, there are often opposing pressure groups (such as the pro-life and pro-abortion groups) which means that both sides of the argument are discussed. Even if there is just the one sided view, it atleast spurs interest in the topic at hand, hopefully creating a desire to learn more about the issue before arriving at a decision.
The educational aspect has another side to it as well. The government is not all knowing. The civil servants who advise the government, though widely read, do not know everything. Therefore they consult various institutions, many of whom are pressure groups, to garner information. Once this is done they advise their ministers appropriately. There is also the oppurtunity for the pressure group to lobby influencial people, educating them in the process. This has the collective consequence of creating debate inside Parliament.
This is one of the reasons why there have been calls for the opposition to have civil servant advisors. In debates, the government has an army of civil servants to find relevant information to aid them in the debate. The opposition only has their own party to do this and so debates can end up being one sided.
Finally, pressure groups also can show the public interest for a cause. If the group has a large membership, it is probably safe to say that they have great support from the public. This allows the government to see where public opinion lies (though it doesn't beat a good poll).
Arguments Against Pressure Groups Enhancing Democracy
Examples
Greenpeace can be classified as a cause insider and outsider group.
The CBI is a sectional cause insider group.
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament is a cause insider and outsider group.
The British Medical Association is a sectional insider group (as are most Trade Unions).