D&P: Pressure Groups + Other Influences Flashcards
What are pressure groups?
- Groups that seek to influence politics in order to achieve particular goals. They don’t seek political office, but seek to change policy through influencing public opinion and parliament and the government.
Why do people join pressure groups?
- Membership usually comes from people feeling strongly about a particular political cause and want to get involved in causing change.
What are cause groups?
A pressure group that is based on shared values, ideals and principles.
What are examples of cause groups?
Greenpeace, promotes environmental concerns and tries to influence the government to adopt ‘green’ causes.
What is an interest group?
groups that represent and defend the interests of a particular section of society.
What are examples of interest groups?
Trade Unions( e.g. NEU (National Education Union) that represents more than 450,000 teachers and education workers) and Business Corporations.
What are insider groups, what do they do and what are examples of them?
They rely on close contacts with ministers and civil servants to achieve their aims. Some, such as the National Union of Farmers with DEFRA, have close links with relevant gov depts and most insider groups’ objectives are generally in line with the views of the gov. Some are low profile (e.g. the Howard League for Penal Reform) and rely on discreet behind the scenes contacts rather than seeking publicity. They are very dependent on their contacts and political leanings of the gov of the day.
What are outsider groups?
They are pressure groups that are not consulted by the gov. Their objectives are often so far from the political mainstream and radical (e.g. animal rights protesters who try to intimidate animal testing laboratories into ceasing their work) that the gov is unlikely to talk to them.
What are examples of outsider groups?
Just Stop Oil and their disruptive protests or the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers, which have held repeated strikes in order to demand increases in pay.
How can groups switch between insider and outsider?
It changes according to the political circumstances and leanings of the party in power. E.g. Post-War, the Trade Unions enjoyed privileged access and influence with the Labour govs in power, but when Thatcher rose to power, union leaders were deliberately excluded.
What are insider methods?
- They tend to lobby the government/parliamentarians/MPs and negotiate quietly behind the scenes, using their private contacts. (e.g. Human Rights Lawyers acting for Liberty have done this to put forward their opinions on counter-terrorism policies that believe affect people’s civil liberties.)
- They may be given the opportunity to give their views and specialist advice or draft legislation. (E.g. the National Farmers Union was able to give the conservative government, specifically DEFRA, specialised knowledge in exchange for influence over policy).
What are Outsider methods?
- Typically use less discrete methods to gain publicity and therefore draw attention to their concerns and gain public and political support.
- They use media like social media campaigns and petitions or stage demonstrations and publicity stunts. (e.g. Just Stop Oil protests blocking roads and gluing themselves to goal posts during games)
- Well-funded pressure groups may initiate legal challenges against policies they disapprove of e.g. the Countryside alliance took its case against the banning of fox hunting to the High Court in 2004.
- Trade Unions usually use strikes to cause disruption.
Do insider and outsider groups exclusively use different methods?
No, it depends on the circumstance. For example, The British Medical Association usually enjoys insider status however when the conservative gov wanted to impose a new contract on junior doctors, it initiated strike action.
British Medical Association
It is a sectional group whose main purpose is to protect the interests of doctors though it can also act as a cause group on issues affecting public health.
Its professional status and ability to prove scientific evidence gave it credibility with the Coalition gov. It had already contributed to a ban on smoking in enclosed public spaces in 2007. They originally tried to campaign for an outright ban of smoking in cars, regardless of whether passengers were present, however realising there was insufficient support for this, they switched to campaigning for a ban when children were being carried which gained support from asthma UK.
- They lobbyed and made their case to the HoL, a labour peer introduced an amendment to the Children and Families Bill, which allowed the ban to come into force in 2015.
- They show compromise and insider methods.
National Farmers Union
- Insider, sectional pressure group
- Close contacts and lobbying success with Dept of Environmental, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), especially as it is able to provide the dept with expertise and advice, whilst farmers and important to the UK economy.
- They had particular success in 2013 when they helped provide a badger cull to control the spread of Bovine TB to farm animals, despite pressure groups supporting animal welfare opposing it.
- Shows lobbying power and influence and insider methods.
Marcus Rashford Free School Meals
- Summer 2020, he teamed up with Fairshare and put significant public pressure on the UK gov to reverse its decision to not extend free school meals to children during the summer holidays, through open letters, e-petitions and his social media accounts which generated a social movement and major public support.
- His campaign was successful, with the gov reversing its decision in June 2020.
- Shows celebrity endorsements and outsider methods and importance of leadership.
Just Stop Oil
- A coalition of groups and individuals with no clear leadership formed to put pressure on the gov to end all new licences for the production of fossil fuels in the UK.
- They are an outsider, causal pressure group that gained a lot of social media attention in 2020 due to public disruption.
- Their goal is very large and difficult to attain and have failed to receive gov policy change or positive public support.
What are the reasons for pressure group success?
- Resources: A large membership allows them to run offices, pay staff and organise publicity. E.g. RSPCA employs around 1800 people and is supported by 1000s of volunteers and can afford to spend a lot on advertising. TUs having a large membership means a higher likelihood of influencing through industrial action.
- Strategy and Leadership: Experience and capable leaders are crucial to success. E.g. Marcus Rashford. It is also important to have contacts to be able to have access points in order to achieve goals. E.g. BMA and smoking.
- Public Support: PGs that represent a large portion of public opinion are generally more successful, as are those who use peaceful and respectable methods to not alienate sympathisers (JSO doesn’t do this).
- Gov Attitudes: The gov will listen to PGs that they find common ground with e.g. NFU or BMA.
What are Think Tanks?
A group of experts who are brought together to investigate topics and offer solutions to complicated economic, social and political issues. They have political leanings and often have strong connections to political parties. E.g. Left Wing Think Tank is the Fabian Institute.
How do TTs have influence?
They are an alternative source of ideas to the civil service, with more time and expertise than parties to carry out research and come up with policy solutions which are sometimes adopted. But they ultimately have to be aligned with the government in order to have any real impact on policy.
What is a criticism of TTs?
Many argue that Think Tanks push policies and evidence that favour powerful corporate interests who fund them, undermining democracy.
They lack transparency because they do not have to declare the sources of their funding. e.g. the IEA funding breakdown from 2018 shows that 65% of their funding came from entrepreneurs, small businesses and foundations/trusts. This begs the question.
What are examples of Think Tanks’ Influence?
- The Universal Credit benefits system was first proposed by the Centre for Social Justice and implemented by the Coalition Gov.
- Liz Truss’s disastrous economic policies of tax breaks can be seen as influenced by the IEA because they are very neo-liberal.
What are lobbyists?
Lobbyists are members of professional organisations paid by clients (organisations, companies and individuals) seeking access to and influence over government MPs and members of the Hol. Their purpose is to gain influence on behalf of their clients and prevent/promote legislation damaging/promoting their interests.
What are the concerns of lobbying?
- There is unease about lobbying as some don’t like the idea of wealthy individuals and corporations gaining influence as they can afford lobbyists’ fees, with concerns over corruption as well.
- Attention has been put on the issue by undercover journalists posing as lobbyists to entrap MPs with financial rewards or offers. The Parliamentary code of conduct strictly prohibits MPs from accepting bribes for agreeing to represent a viewpoint.
