Mr Scriven - Pressure Groups Flashcards
Evidence of pressure groups being beneficial to democracy
Raising public awareness, education and public debate
Successful in persuading govt to pass legislation that public support e.g live veil exports
Popular support - 60% oppose animal experimentation - parties don’t speak about this
Evidence of support e.g attendance of Jill Phillips funeral
Encourages participation
Represents those who don’t have a voice - minorities
Evidence that pressure groups are harmful to democracy
Horrible tactics e.g grave robbing and violent/abusive
Anti democratic
No accountability for their actions
Don’t speak for all - silent majority
Enormous costs of policing protests/marches
Damages economy - blockading roads, ports and airports
Delay/block vital medical research - could this cost lives?
Pressure groups in favour of smoking
FOREST
BAT
TMA
Pressure groups against smoking
-ash
-BMA
-rcn
Three consequences of anti poll tax protests in 1990
The downfall of thatcher
John major abolished poll tax and replaced with council tax
Encourages other groups to use violence
Anti poll tax league - 1990
Abolition of the poll-tax
Tactics:
Violence
Media coverage
Protest in London 200,000
Abolished the poll tax and was replaced with council tax
Conservatives ended up removing thatcher as leader
Snowdrop campaign - 1997
Mass shooting in dunblain primary school
Tactics:
-media
-emails
-petition at downing street
-Founder did a speech at a labour conference
Resulted in legislation on banning the ownership of hand guns in the uk (firearms amendment act)
The friends and family of Stephen Lawrence
Black British teen stabbed to death in an unprovoked racial attack
Received major publicity to secure convictions and an enquiry into the criminal justice system
Tactics:
- daily mails ‘5 murderers’
-police criticised
-Nelson Mandela did a press conference
Parents met with pm
Led to race relations bill, double jeopardy reform (2000), and an investigation into ‘stop and search’
McPherson report - police were institutionally racist
The family filed a private prosecution in 93 that failed (unreliable identification evidence)
the Gurkha justice campaign - 2008
Until 2004 Gurkhas could not settle in the uk ( wanted settlement for all)
Tactics:
-protests/marches
- public speaking
-media of Joanna lumley
Blair changed the rules so that Gurkhas who retired after 1997 could settle - ghurka residency act 2008
Controversial as govt said they wouldn’t allow this but changed their minds
Child poverty action group - 2020
Providing free school meals during school holidays
Tactics;
- open letters to MPs
- formed tack force with uk food banks
-BBC documentary
- celebrity endorsement of Marcus rashford
Free meal extension during school holiday in 2020
Celeb endorsement
Johnson announced to rashford before parliament
Scheme no longer in action
What factors allow the law changes to be successful
Celebrity endorsement
Publics support
Media’s sympathetic coverage
Protests
Civil disobedience
Petitions
Emotive issues
Global media coverage
Proximity to GE
Violence
Meeting with govt.
Green peace
Prevent shell from dumping disused oil depot ‘Brent spa’ into the Atlantic
They illegally occupied the Brent spa at sea as well as organised boycotts of shell throughout Germany
She’ll agreed not to dispose of the waste in the sea
Controversy as it disrupted economic activity, cost shell £40m excluding the boycotts, middle class activism, and misled the public with how much oil was in the spa
They resulted in storing it in Norway for 7 years and eventually cut it up and used it as part of a ferry terminal
Occupy - outsider group
Anti capitalism/anti globalisation
Attack on the 1% of the worlds population who owns 99% of the worlds wealth (we are the 99%)
They camped (occupied) in high profile places around the word:
-Wall Street
-st Paul’s cathedral
- Sheffield cathedral
Protests
They achieved nothing !
Controversy as there was violent police tactics which costs lots to police and disrupts economy
Anonymous
Anti capitalism/anti globalisation
Attacks on global capitalist cooperations:
-PayPal
-amazon
-apple
-cbi/fbi
-google
‘Hacktivism’ - they would disrupt and embarrass global cooperations by hacking them and installing virus, leaking private details, data breaches, trolling and disrupting emails, apps etc
No laws changed!
Student/teen activism
Economic disruption
Fathers 4 justice
Custody/access rights for divorced fathers
Publicity stunts - dressed as superhero’s and Santa
Power attack on Blair during PMQ
Disrupted national lottery on live tv
They plotted to kidnap the pms son
They did achieve some sympathy
Their tactics became alienating and values shifted from original group
Founder, Michael O’Connor dissolved due to concerns
Outsider group - made more noise than impact
Extinction rebellion
Action to stop climate change
They blockaded roads, trains, motorways and city centres
Michael government declared a climate change emergency
Controversies as tactics were alienating, middle class activism, cost of policing
Links with just stop oil
Why are some pressure groups less successful
Disruption to economy
Controversial issues
More hate than support
Public alienation
Lack of celebrity endorsement
Middle class activism
Disruption to daily lives
Making enemies with govt/business
Hard to achieve aims
Less emotive issues
No leadership/coordination
Elitism
Negative functions/features of pressure groups
Elitism features
They are sectional interest = trade unions
They are better resourced and organised sections of the community so therefore advantaged = NIBY campaigns
Too much goes on in secret with lobbying carried out behind closed doors = CBI, Adam smith, ERTI
Leadership being unrepresentative of views of membership = f4j, RSPCA
Threatening/violent/illegal tactics = anonymous, occupy
Can slow down the decision making process and act as a barrier to social progress =NIBY ( anti wind turbines)
Pluralism features
Promotes discussion and debate and mobilises public opinion on key issues = for/against eu membership, Scottish independence
Perform a role in educating citizens about a specific issue = greenpeace
Enhance democratic participation, pluralism and diversity - Ghurka justice, CND
Raise issues that political parties wont touch due to sensitivity = abortion rights
Provides an important access point for those seeking redress or grievance = stone wall
Represents minorities who cannot represent themselves = friends and family of Stephen Lawrence
Valuable sources of specialist info and help to support parliament/civil service = BMA
Important role in implementing changes to public policy = snowdrop campaign - firearms amendment act
Act as a check an and balance to power of executive govt = anti poll tax league
Adam smith institute
- has registered charity status
- one of the most influential British think tanks
- specialises in research in education
Reports have led to: - grant maintained schools
- academy schools
- national curriculum
- GCSE’s
- AS exams
- school league tables
- tuition fees
- multi academy trusts
- academy status
European round table of industrialists - ERTI
All their recommendations were achievements:
- enlarging the size of the EU
- increasing pension contribution by employer
- public/private partnership in both education and health
- establishment of G8
- reductions in cooperation tax across the eu
- action on climate change
CBI - confederation of British industry
Their motto: ‘voice of business’
Recent campaigns:
- consistently opposed against minimum wage - unsuccessful
- critical of climate change - unsuccessful
- campaigned for HS2 high speed rail link - unsuccessful
- lobbied fir reductions in cooperation tax - success
- opposed Scottish independence - success
Opposed Brexit (said it would cost 950,000 jobs - unsuccessful
Lobbied for 3rd runway at Heathrow - success
Specialist insider
Those who are granted insider status within a more narrow area of expertise - WWF
Peripheral insiders
Those who have insider status but are only rarely needed by govt
Core insiders
Those with a strong 2-way relationship with policy makers over a broad range e.g BMA
High profile insiders
Consciously using the media as well - CBI
Low profile insiders
Concentration on behind the scenes pressure e.g national trust
‘Prisoner’ insiders
Dependent on govt in some way e.g equalities commission
Insider groups
Are regularly consulted by govt departments e.g BMA,CBI
They often have a high impact on policy outcome as they offer expertise, policy implementation and political support
Think tanks
Organisation that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology and culture
Most policy institutes are non-profit organisations, which some countries such as us and canada provide with tax exempt status, other think tanks are funded by govt, advocacy groups or businesses or derive revenue from consulting or research work related to their projects
Is it a level playing field
Clear influence of CBI, UK finance and ERTOI
Not all groups have the ‘ear of policy makers’ and there is not equal access to such parliamentary processors
Reference to insider/outsider status (unions, countryside alliance, BMA, NFU, think tanks like ASI)
How does parliament provide opportunity or interest group activity
-Parliamentary committees in particular - however evidence given dominated by sectional groups e.g unions
-government consultation - while drafting plans to introduce gay marriage in 2012, the govt undertook a 12 week consultation on its plans
- in a 2008 consultation over tobacco sales by department of health, over 3/4 of responses were from organisations funded by department of health therefore not a wide spread variety of views
Lobbying
2011 - undercover journalists filmed the chef lobbyist at the lobbying firm bell pottinger boasting that on behalf of the vaccine manufacturer Dyson they had ensured that the PM raised concerns over copy right
‘Cash for question’ and ‘cash for access’
Lobbying can be positive - stone wall
Anti democratic
Groups like ALF and anonymous should not be listened to otherwise it will inspire other law breakers
Anti poll tax protests -civil disobedience and law breaking was rewarded
Participation mass membership groups
Green peace
CND
TUC
CBI - employs 1/3 of all Britain’s work force
RSPCA
National trust
Issues with mass membership
Slacktivism
Check book membership
Weakening of unions power since 80’s
E-petitions and demonstrations gather large support but have little overall influence in decision making
Evidence of pluralism
Free serve - free school meals campaign 2020/21
Raising awareness - BLM
Friends and family of Stephen Lawrence - race relations bill
Success of ASH in getting smoking banned in public spaces despite opposition eg FOREST
Evidence of elitism
Influence of ERTOI (reduce cooperation tax and reduce employer contribution to employee pensions)
CBI’s success for 3rd runway at Heathrow despite opposition
CBI’s campaign for hs2 rail link
Counter argument = CBI campaigned against minimum wage and were unsuccessful
Some considerable success by groups outside traditional elites - anti poll tax, Stephen Lawrence
Roses theory - all about values
- values generally accepted (by public, media, politicians e.g snowdrop)
- values change over time (public used to be in favour and now against or vice versa e.g stone wall lgbtq+ rights)
- opinions are divided (govt wont pick a ‘side’ because they don’t want to lose support e.g pro life vs pro choice)
- cultural indifference (vast majority of public are not bothered about the issue e.g keep Sunday special)
- attitudes shift away from group (groups lose support over time e.g f4j)
- conflict between tactics and public opinion (public support but are alienated by group tactics e.g extinction rebellion)
Grants theory
- Domain organisation
-membership
-electoral influence
-competition for members
Examples:
-green peace
-CBI/ERTOI
-unions - Resources
-financial resources
-financial uncertainty
-organisational structure
-tactics
Examples:
-green peace - own boats and ships
- CBI ERTOI
-Alf - blockades and direct action
-TUC and labour - financial backing - External environment
-public opinions
-outsider views
Examples:
-snowdrop
-friends and family of Stephen Lawrence
-free serve
Counter argument:
-f4j
Just stop oil
The post war consensus years 1945-79 - corporatism
Mostly associated with fascists states like Italy- the incorporation of pressure groups into the state itself, in the uk the incorporation of leading sectional groups (BBI/TUC) into the decision making process e,g NEDC ( national economic development council)
Social contract
The British govt allowing the TUC/CBI to advise on economic policy in return for cooperation and implementation e.g no strikes
Tri-partism
The 3 parts of the social contract - govt, CBI, TUC
Post war consensus
Broad agreement between parties on the role of govt - full employment, social contract, support for welfare state
Dual state model
2 types of govt when it comes to pressure group activity
- Social/moral issues - state has less vested interest lots of evidence of pluralism - cause groups have chance of success
- Economic/financial issues - state has vested interest lots of evidence of elitism - sectional groups like CBI have a lot of influence
Explain and analyse 3 factors that can lead to some pressure groups being more successful than others - 9
Pressure group status - insider/outsider
Popular aims - roses theory
Wealth/finance - grants theory
Large membership can be shared to ignore - exception = CND
Celebrity endorsement
Emotive issues
Dual state model
What is a cause group
group dedicated to one cause; with members having a shared purpose or interest in that cause. Generally, causal groups have open membership, meaning that anyone is allowed to join. An example of a causal group would be the Royal Society Protection of Birds (RSPB)
What is a sectional group
A sectional group is a group dedicated to representing one section of society. This can be a profession, an industry or even a religion. They are set up to protect the interests of a section of the population, and as a result tend not to have open membership. Instead, a person must meet some qualifications to become a member: an example of a sectional group would be the British Medical Association (BMA) who represent doctors and whose membership consists exclusively of those concerned with the medical profession
