Pressure Groups Flashcards
What is an insider pressure group?
Insider pressure groups are consulted by the government or have close government links
What is an outsider pressure group?
Outsider pressure groups are not consulted by the government and instead try to influence political decision making from the outside
Name 2 ways insider pressure groups campaign
- Lobbying
- Researching and publishing reports
Name 2 ways outsider pressure groups campaign
- Protesting and Civil Disobedience
- Strikes
What are the requirements for insider pressure groups?
- Law abiding
- Good public image
This is in order to retain the trust of the government
Give an example of an outsider pressure group that is happy to remain an outsider
Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) - used extreme tactics that were incompatible with insider status
Give an example of an insider pressure group
British Medical Association (BMA)
Give 2 of the BMA’s main objectives
- Improve the pay and conditions of doctors (act as a trade union)
- Improve healthcare and public health (act as a lobbyist)
Give 2 things the BMA lobbies for
- A minimum unit price for alcohol sales
- A sugar tax on drinks
What is the BMA’s membership?
Over 160,000 doctors and medical students
What are the BMA’s methods?
- Organised the first full strike by junior doctors in April 2016, over changes to the junior doctors’ contracts
- The BMA briefs MPs on health policy, meets ministers and responds to consultations
Name 4 successes of the BMA
- Plays a leading role in every debate about public health and healthcare
- One of the most respected insider groups which allows it to influence the government as it develops policies
- Played a leading role throughout COVID:
- Led calls and secured adequate PPE for NHS workers
- Generated large media attention throughout the pandemic by releasing numerous public statements which allowed it to holding the government to account by emphasising the importance of following scientific advice
- Successfully convinced the government to push back the lifting of COVID restrictions by 4 weeks in June 2021 - Successfully convinced the government to introduce many policies
Give 4 examples of policy changes the BMA convinced the government to undertake
- Opt-out system for organ donation (enacted in 2020)
- Sugar tax on fizzy drinks (2018)
- Smoking ban in enclosed public places (2007)
- Compulsory seatbelts for all occupants of cars (1991)
Give the main failing of the BMA
- Despite functioning well as a lobbyist organisation, they do not function well as a trade union
- After being forced to cancel a planned junior doctors strike in September 2016, the government did not give in and implemented the new contract on them in October 2016
Give an example of an outsider pressure group
Extinction Rebellion
What are the 3 main aims of Extinction Rebellion
- Tell the truth: make the government declare a climate emergency
- Act now: take immediate action to go climate neutral by 2025 and prevent further loss of biodiversity
- Decide together: convince the government create a Citizens’ Assembly to make decisions on how to deal with the climate emergency
What is the membership structure of Extinction Rebellion?
- No formal hierarchy or membership
- It has a decentralised structure of affiliated small activists groups
- Affiliated groups plan their own actions with XR’s broad aims
What is Extinction Rebellion’s membership?
- Set up in 2018
- By 2020 it had 485 groups in more than 70 countries with about 130 groups in the UK
Give Extinction Rebellion’s main method
Peaceful direct action and civil disobedience such as:
- Blocking roads or buildings
- Glued themselves to buildings and train carriages
- Spraying the Treasury buildings with fake blood
What is the objective of Extinction Rebellion’s civil disobedience?
- Mass arrests intended to fill police cells
- 1828 protestors were arrested in October 2019
Name 3 successes of Extinction Rebellion
- The environment sits higher on the political agenda than ever before; all major political parties have committed to making the UK carbon neutral
- 26% of voters and 45% of 19-24 year olds put it on their top 3 issues for the 2019 general election
- Parliament set up a 100 member Citizens’ Assembly which met during 2020 and wrote a report, HOWEVER, recommendations can be ignored by the government, and it focused on getting carbon neutral by 2050 which XR believes to be too late
Name 4 Failures of Extinction Rebellion
- Some of its actions have been very unpopular and actually turned public opinion against them, such as during a 2019 demonstration that disrupted the London public transport network and delayed 500,000 commuters
- The pace of the government’s agenda does not match that demanded by Extinction Rebellion: there are plans to go climate neutral by 2050 whilst XR demands 2025
- Its lack of hierarchy makes it difficult to control and has led to local groups carrying out unsuitable actions which have led to divisions and splits
- XR lost momentum during lockdown and BLM dominated the political agenda in 2020 which made it harder for XR to attract media attention
Name 4 limits of the “insider group” classification
- Peripheral insiders are only consulted occasionally, and have little influence over government
- Close ties with one political party can damage a pressure group’s influence long term: whilst Trade Unions become very powerful and are regularly consulted under Labour government’s, they are disregarded under Tory government’s and become outsider groups
- They have limited influence if they fundamentally disagree with the government e.g. BMA failed to convince the government to improve the junior doctor’s new contract
- Outsider groups also have ability to influence parliament, and may be asked to give evidence to a select committee as Extinction Rebellion was in 2019
What are the two types of pressure groups?
- Interest
- Promotional