Pressure groups and other influences Flashcards
What is a pressure group?
A pressure group is a group of people who work together to try to influence what other people and the government think about a particular topic
What is a pluralist democracy?
Pluralist democracy = means that political power and influence are widley distributed so that different grpu[s can compete to sway the government in their favour
What are the key features of a pressure group?
- They seek to exert influence from outside rather than to win ot excercise government power. They do not make policy decisonsbut rather try to influence those who do
- They are external to the government and act as a channel of ongoing communication between people and the govermnet
What are sectional / interest pressure groups?
Sectional / interest groups = represent the interests of a particular group within society. For e.g. The Muslim Council of Britian represents the interests of all British Muslims and the National Union of Students represents the interests of all students . They lobby government on behalf of these defined social groups.
What are cause/ promotional pressure groups?
Cause pressure groups = promote a particular issue . Pressure groups such as friends of the earth and Liberty which campaign on behalf of civil liberties in the UK, are cause groups because their members are united in their interest a particular cause.
What are insider pressure groups?
Insider group = has privelleged access to government decision making. The British Medical association represents doctors and so possesses specalist information that governments will wish to consults. The Howard Leauge Penal Reform is an important organisation that can supply the home office with important information concerning prison reform, policing and youth crime
What are outsider pressure groups?
What is the national farmers union?
The National Farmers Union (NFU) is an insider, sectional group that works to protect the interest of UK farmers.
NFU campaign against BTB?
The NFU led a campaign against bovine tuberculosis (bTB), which involves killing badgers which pass the disease on to cattle.
The NFU argue that bTB is incredibly harmful to farmers, and means that tens of thousands of cattle have to be killed every year.
BTB has been harmful and costs the economy in the UK £100 million per year.
What methods did nfu use?
The NFU had insider contacts at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
DEFRA supported the cull, and so a trial of the cull went ahead in 2012 and 2013.
The success of NFU campaign?
DEFRA supported the cull, and so a trial of the cull went ahead in 2012 and 2013.
This was despite lots of public opposition - in 2011 opinion polls showed that the majority of the British public were opposed.
Other pressure groups opposed the cull, led by the Badger Trust.
This shows the importance of insider access for successful policy action.
Occupy London
Occupy London were an outsider, promotional group that protested the City of London’s financial institutions and their greed in 2011 and 2012.
What did the occupy london movement do for their campaign?
The Occupy London movement protested against corporate greed and social inequality.
This was part of a global set of protests for the same cause.
The group camped outside St Paul’s Cathedral in London, and occupied squares and abandoned buildings throughout London.
The group campaigned for a variety of causes - against climate change, against tax cuts and bank bail-outs.
What was the outcome of occupy London?
The group had many vague aims when campaigning.
The group was able to bring attention to their cause, but they were unable to achieve a long-term impact.
Many argue that this is because they didn’t have a clear goal.
The group didn’t have insider access to decision-makers, and so could only influence by doing public demonstrations to raise awareness and put pressure on decision-makers.
The City of London Corporation only complied with one demand.
What is liberty
Its policy experts and lwayers lobby mps and peers to vote against legislation that would negativley impact upon human rights
Its proffesional research papers are also widley consulted at westminster and the group regularly provides evidence for parliamentary select committees
Organises campaigns that publicise ways in which civil liberties are being threatened e.g. demonstrations, online petitions against limits to public protest and increased police powers of stop and search
What is liberty
Liberty is a membership organisation focusing on civil liberties in the uk
What is libe
Liberty is committed to fighting unjust attempts to undermine civil liberties in the UK through a combination of insider and outsider tactics
When was liberty established and what was it previously called?
It has existed since 1934 and was previously called the Natioanl Council for civil liberties
Not associated w any politica partys
Is liberty associated with any political party?
No, although former director Baroness Shami Chakrabati became a labour politican joining jeremy corbyns front bench team in 2016
What is libertys focus?
Liberty focuses on working through the courts and challenging the government and other bodies on a legal basis, rather than through direct action or high profile campaigning
The organisation includes many experts in human rights law and it is this expertise that is foremost among its resources
Examples of liberty successes?
The Human Rights Act
Scrapping plans for compulsory ID cards
(Other groups were also involved)
An example of liberty using the coyrts to protect civil liberties
In 2020 it supported ED bridges case against the south wales police that it had breached arctile 8 of the human rights act when it stored biometric data about him secure by automatic facial recognition surveillance
When the court of appeal ruled that south wales police use of automatic facial recognition required greater care in its implementation mengan goulding from liberty welcomed the judgement stating ‘facial recognition is a threat to our freeddom - it has no place on our streets
Recent 2024 example of liberty?
In 2024, liberty supported Black Equity Organisation (BEO) in a successful legal challenge against the Mayor of London’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) and the Secretary of State for Justice (SSJ) over a discriminatory GPS tagging system.
Membership of liberty
Liberty reportedly has over 15,000 ‘members and supporters’.
A succcess example of liberty?
Liberty represented John Walker in a legal challenge to a loophole in the Equality Act which let employers exempt same-sex spouses from spousal pension benefits. In July 2017, the Supreme Court found the loophole unlawful under EU law.
A failure of liberty?
Their attempts to ‘save’ the Human Rights Act are seemingly not too successful.
What type of pg is liberty?
A casual pressure group with high profile insider status
Amnesty international
A large international pressure group which focuses on human rights abuses all around the world, campainging to ensure that all human beings enjoy the rights sets oyt in the united nations universal declaration on hrs
What does amnesty international do?
Its methods combine public activism with targeted lobbying of representatives to increase awarness of chuman rights abuses
Organises challenge events to raise funds and awareness
Uses modern technology to increase pressure on governments
Pocket protest is an sms action which enables members to instantly support a petition on behalf of a political prisioner
Its website provides information about ways in which humans rights are being abused throughout the world together with ways in which supporters can express their solidatary with threatened and persucted groups and individuals
Achieve a close relationship with political decision makers, members encouraged to lobby their mps
An example of amnesty international members lobbying?
In support of Nazanin Zaghari ratcliffee an iranian british woman imprisioned in iran for allegedly seeking to topple its government when her husband richard ratcliffe undertood a 21 day hunger strike outside the foreign office from 24 october to 13 nov 2021 amenesty widley publcised the event urging mps and peers to attend a westinister hall and hol debate advocating for ZR behalf
She was released 16 march 22 and rerurbed to the uk
AI kept pressure on the govt
An example of AI research papers being circulated among mps and ministers
It produces research breifings on pressing issues such as right of immgrants refugees and asylum seekers as well as exposing how the rights on minorities in the uk need to be respected
Current campaigns of ai
The rights of refugees, fighting for the rights of lgbtqi people around the world and need to protect civillians in the conflcits of syria
The success of ai?
Encouraging more countries and states to abolish the death penalty
The uns comvention against torture
The release of many political prisoners over the years
Faillures of AI?
- Despite of their ongoing campaign Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe freed still remains imprisoned in Iran as of early 2021
- Has failed in its aim to persuade Vatican to remove its objects to abortion
Criticism for reportedly high salaries for its top officials and for excessive pat out for former session figures in the organisation, Irene Khan receiving a pay out of £533,103 following her resignation on a £132,490 salary
ai SUCCESSES
- Their “Write for Rights” campaign has seen a number of people realised from prison
- Release of Yecenia Armena who has been jailed on a basis of a “confession” extracted after 15 hours of torture
- Release of Fred Bauma and Yves Makwambala who has been detained because of their pro-democracy work
- Magai Matiop death sentence at only 15
Reasons for ai successes?
Large International Membership: membership base allows for coordinated and impact campaigns.
Relationships and Collaborations: Strong ties
Financial Resources:
Global Recognition: The organization’s Nobel Peace Prize win in 1977 and considerable celebrity support bolster its reputation and reach.
When was ai founded?
Founded in London in 1961 by Peter Benenson, inspired by two Portuguese students imprisoned for toasting to liberty, Amnesty International is a global campaign group. It aims to protect people wherever justice, freedom, and liberty are denied, and seeks to educate society and mobilize the public for a safer world.
What is BMA?
The BMA is a sectional group whose main purpose is to protect the interests of doctors. It can also function as a cause group, on issues that affect public health. Its professional status and ability to provide scientific evidence give it credibility with government.
Successes of BMA?
The BMA had already contributed to the introduction of a ban on smoking in enclosed public spaces from 2007. It saw the prohibition of smoking in private vehicles as the next stage in its campaign for a smoke-free UK.
Not successful?
s. Originally it argued for an outright ban on smoking in cars, regardless of whether passengers were being carried. There was insufficient support for this, so the BMA concentrated on campaigning for prohibition when children were being carried
What did it lead to?
This attracted the support of other pressure groups such as Asthma UK. The BMA used online technology to lobby for support, providing its members with a web-based form to personalise and send to their MPs. It also made its case to members of the House of Lords. A Labour peer introduced an amendment to the 2014 Children and Families Bill, which was passed by the Lords and later accepted by the Commons. The ban came into force in October 2015
Extinction rebellion?
The Automobile Association (AA) and the Royal Automobile Club (RAC)
were both highly critical of the Johnson government’s plans to introduce smart motorways. These are motorways on which the hard shoulder is removed to increase capacity. It is replaced with refugee areas (no more than 1.6 miles apart), which drivers should head for. According to both organisations, smart motorways significantly increased the risk to drivers
Why were they successful?
The tactics they deployed made the most of their professional expertise and insider status to directly influence policy making. In 2021, the RAC’s report on motoring survey showed that 54% of drivers believed that smart motorways made them less safe. According to the AA, smart motorways could leave stranded cars like ‘sitting ducks’. In 2021, the AA and the RAC, together with West Midlands police and Highways England, provided specialist evidence to the Transport Select Committee. On the recommendation of the committee, the government decided to delay building new smart highways for 5 years while their safety implications were assessed
Examples of protests
athers4Justice marched outside former PM David Cameron’s home in Oxfordshire in 2011 to demonstrate their anger at his article which labelled men who abandon their families as “Feckless Fathers” who “should be looked at like drink drivers”.
The pressure group Hacked Off had a petition signed by 175,000 people in 2013 for the recommendations from the Leveson Inquiry into phone hacking to be implemented
Examples of direct action
Fathers4Justice carried out a publicity stunt in which a member of the group scaled Buckingham Palace balcony dressed as Batman.
The Animal Liberation Front has carried out attacks on homes of people with connections to pharmaceutical research laboratories using animals as part of their research.
Examples of legal challenges
The Countryside Alliance pressure group contested a ban on fox hunting in the High Court.
Child Poverty Action Group brought a case against the Government to the High Court challenging the two child limit introduced by the 2016 Welfare Reform and Work Act.
CBI
The CBI in economic, industrial and trade policy
BMA
