9. pressure groups Flashcards
What are pressure groups?
- organisation that aims to influence political decision making
- seek to influence those in power
What are insider groups?
- those that are consulted by the government and therefore have insider status
- need to be law-abiding with a good public image to retain the trust of the government e.g. Banking Medical Association, National Trust
What are outsider groups?
- those that are not consulted by the government and instead try to influence political decision making from the outside
- some try to become insider groups while others like the Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty are happy to remain outside and use extreme tactics
Who are the BMA?
- British Medical Association
- act as the doctors trade union, to improve pay and conditions
- lobbies the gov for improvements to healthcare
- 160,000 doctors
- methods: strikes, meetings with MPs
- 2002 campaigned for a smoking ban and it was achieved in 2007
- 2016 cancelled doctors strikes as hospitals complained
Who are Greenpeace?
- Stopping climate change, protecting oceans and forests
- 3M members worldwide
- over £300M global revenues
- 2017 Cons announced to plans to lower carbon economy
- 2015 shell announced that they wont drill in the Artic
- 2016 - more than 100 Nobel laureates signed saying how Greenpeace are not scientific
What are promotional groups?
- those that promote a specific cause, such as the housing for the homelessness charity shelter
- generally inclusive and altruistic
What are interest groups?
- those that exist to defend the interests of a particular group or section of society
- trade unions
- National Education Union
What are the methods of working within the system?
- influencing government
- influencing parliament
- influencing political parties
- using the courts
How do pressure groups influence the government?
- insider pressure groups try to directly influencing ministers and civil servants through contributions
How do pressure groups influence parliament?
- pressure groups lobby MPs to try and influence their votes on gov bills
- they try to convince MPs to introduce a private members bill for their cause
- they can be asked to appear before a backbench committee
How do pressure groups influence political parties?
- Unions have been part of the Labour Party since its formation and make an essential financial contribution
- some pressure groups attend party conferences to try and influence key members
How do pressure groups use the courts?
- Pressure groups may try to overturn gov decisions with legal action using judicial review
- publicity and changing public opinion may be as important as wining the case
What are the methods of working outside the governmental system?
- Appealing to the public
- background campaigns
- short term campaigns
- direct action
How do pressure groups appeal to the public?
- pressure groups attract public support by using the media
- they appeal to the public directly using social media and online campagining
- they organise demonstrations and marches
- all pressure groups need public support, but is v. important for outside grous
How doe pressure groups use background campaigns?
- long-term educational and propaganda campaigns are designed to produce significant shifts in public opinion
How do pressure groups use short term campaigns?
- these are aimed at warning the public about a specific problem and trying to solve it
- the most extreme version was “fire brigade campaign” - rallied support quickly
How do pressure groups use direct action?
- this is any action taken by a pressure group beyond the usual constitutional methods of campaigning
- direct action includes commonly used tactics
- some direct action is legal but some it illegal civil disobedience
How does membership effect the political influencer of a pressure group
up?
- large membership often have more influence with the government
- pressure groups with highly regarded membership are likely to have more influence e.g. BMA made up of doctors
HOWEVER - government may ignore pressure groups with large membership e.g. Striking unions
How does the amount of resources a pressure group has effect the political influence of a pressure group?
- Money funds offices, equipment, staff and ads e.g. CBI has 13 offices across the UK - helps them lobby government better
- resources are needed to fund legal challenges to government policies
How do the aims effect the political influence of pressure groups?
- limited and easily achievable aims are more likely to be met
- e.g. Snowdrop campagin 1996 aimed to ban private ownership of guns then an act of parliament was passed 1997
How does the public support effect the political influence of a pressure group?
- public support helps to convince politicians to support and prioritise the pressure groups cause
How do the methods effect the political influence of a pressure group?
- pressure groups that target the appropriate access point for their cause will have a better chance of influencing poltical decision makers
- direct action needs to be handled carefully - stunt bring media attention but violent acts can alienate decision makers and the public
How does celebrity endorsement effect the political influence of a pressure group?
- can bring publicity to an issue that might otherwise be overlooked by politicians
- Lady Gaga and the #MeToo movement
How does links with political parties effect the political influence of a pressure group?
- Trade union donations are hugely important to Labour, and provided much of the funding for its 2017 GE campaign
- BMA supported labours 2007 smoking ban (however BMA have been campaigning since 2002)
How do links with governemnt effect the political influence of a pressure group?
- insider stats can allow pressure groups to directly influence government e.g. 2007 Smoking bans
How does the relationship with the media effect the political influence of a pressure group?
- most pressure groups aim to attract publicity from media esp. when direct action is involved
- media support can put pressure on politicians
What are the other influences on the on government and parliament?
- think-tanks
- lobbyists
- corporations
- the media
How do think-tanks influence the government and parliament?
- organisations that exist purely to develop new policies
- some have clear position on the political spectrum e.g. Fabien Society
- others seek to be independent and neutral e.g. Chatham House
- many politicians have close links with think tanks e.g. Iain Duncan Smith
How do lobbyists influence the government and parliament?
- lobbyists are political operatives who are paid to influence the government
- usually employed by corporations or wealthy pressure groups
- many former politicans become lobbyists
- more than 100 lobbying firms in the UK
How do corporations influence the government and parliament?
- corporations may be invited by the government to contribute to policy discussions and to help produce legislation
- many corporations fund think tanks
How do the media influence the government and parliament?
- government are scrutinised by the media and are keen to attract positive reports: communication with the media is a ley priority for every gov
- 2012 Cameron and Rebekah Brooks (former editor of sun) had a close friendship
What is pluralism?
- a situation in which different groups, including pressure groups, compete equally for power and influence
- power is spread across different groups in society
Are pressure groups good for democracy? - yes
- the pluralist interpretation is that pressure groups are an essential part of democracy as they allow different sections of society to have their views heard by government
- Pressure groups allow people to focus on on issue that concerns them
- pressure groups allow people to participate in democracy at any time
- pressure groups provide the government with information and statistics it might otherwise not discover- this is good for democracy as t makes the government better informed
Are pressure groups good for democracy? - no
- elitist interpretation is that pressure groups are undemocratic - they give a louder voice to the most powerful
- pressure groups often have limited internal democracy so do not truly represent their members - decisions can be made by the leadership without consulting the group
- pressure groups are unaccountable to the electorate
- pressure groups foucs on one particular issue to the exclusion of everything else - may prevent politicans from delivering joined up government
- violent and aggressive campaigning methods are contrary to the rule of law and liberal democracy
