Democracy And Participation- Think Tanks, Lobbyists And Corporations Flashcards
Think tank
A body of experts brought together to investigate and offer solutions to economic, social and political problems.
Lobbyists
Individuals or companies paid to persuade decision makers to favour a particular group or cause.
What can Think Tanks possibly do?
Influence policy
What biases do Think Tanks tend to have?
Many of them can be said to have either a left-wing or right-wing bias, which can affect which political party they influence.
What types of Think Tanks are there?
Non-partisan TT
Left-wing TT
Right-wing TT
Non-partisan Think Tanks
+ Non-partisan think tanks include RePublica, which focuses on general policy issues, and Chatham House, which prioritises international affairs.
Left-wing Think Tanks
+ ‘Left-wing’ think tanks include the Fabian Society, dealing with issues mainly concerning social justice and equality, and the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), which researches and develops various centre-left policy ideas.
Right-wing Think Tanks
+ ‘Right-wing’ think tanks include the Adam Smith Institute, which researches and develops free market solutions to economic issues, and the Centre for Policy Studies, which promotes the ideas popular in the premiership of Margaret Thatcher.
Lobbyists are professional who are
paid to persuade decision makers to favour a particular group or cause.
Are Lobbyists individuals or companies?
They might be individuals or companies and are often employed by businesses, employer groups, pressure groups (e.g. Animal Aid), professional associations, trade unions and even foreign governments.
Corporations
A corporation is a large company or a group of companies that operate as a single entity. Corporations’ wealth is often so great, and their importance to the UK economy so large, that governments cannot easily ignore them.
What are the three groups?
Think Tanks
Lobbyists
Corporations
Think Tanks influence
The Centre for Social Justice had an enormous impact on the 2010-15 coalition government welfare reforms that resulted in the introduction of universal credit.
Think Tanks limits to influence
Think tanks aligned to a political party (e.g. the left-leaning IPPR) lose influence when that party is not in power.
Lobbyists influence
Lobbying firms spend around £2 billion each year seeking to influence decision makers. They employ around 4,000 people.
Concerns have been raised that influence can be bought.
Lobbyists limits to influence
Regulations ban MPs from accepting money from lobbyists in return for agreeing to represent lobbyists’ viewpoints.
Corporations influence
Corporations donate to political party election campaigns and they also fund think tanks.
Over a fifth of Conservative Party donations came from corporations in the run-up to the 2019 general election.
Corporations limits to influence
Corporations do not always get the policies they want. For example, most large corporations opposed Brexit.
