Are pressure groups good for Democracy?

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Are pressure groups good for Democracy?

Whether or not pressure groups are good for democracy depends if their activity is looked at in negative or positive terms.  Most recently pressure groups have been subject to a lot of criticism in recent years for reasons such as the “iron triangle” and having too much power.  However others contest that pressure groups are indeed good for democracy and help the process because they provide congressmen with specialist knowledge and enhance political participation for the members of the public in and between elections.

Pressure groups could be argued to be good for democracy as they provide legislators with specialist knowledge.  Some may think this is not necessary as Congressmen have their own ‘staffers’, however the interest groups can offer detailed or technical knowledge that they would otherwise lack.  This could be in the form of feedback about reaction in the country to government polices and proposals for legislation.  There have, however, been suggestions that the increase of pressure groups within recent years has led to a decline in their usefulness as sources of information.  It has been argued that Congressmen are increasingly uncertain about which group has credibility and deserves attention and in turn means that they do not want to be associated with them.  This means that pressure groups are not necessarily good for democracy as some pressure groups are not very credible and do not possess a great deal of specialist knowledge.

Congress and government departments often use pressure groups as a ‘sounding board’.  This is especially apparent by decision makers in the formulation stage of the legislative process. For example President Lyndon Johnson consulted George Meany the head of the trade-union confederation, the AFL-CIO, so as to gauge opinion on his proposals for anti-poverty measures.  This shows how effective pressure groups can be to things such as public opinion and at the same time, organizations offer opportunities for political participation in between election time.  This allows the public to play more of an active role in politics other than simply voting in Presidential or Congressional elections.  In Washington, DC there considerable public hostility towards the decision makers and pressure group activity illustrates their importance to bridge the gap between the electorate and those ‘inside the beltway’.  In this sense pressure groups act as a successful ‘sounding board’ for decision makers and therefore are good for democracy.

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Many commentators suggest that interest groups are bad for democracy as they occupy a monopoly position in terms of political power.  This though it open to challenge as pluralist theorists suggest that power is widely dispersed across society.  This is because no single group or interest holds a disproportionately powerful position for a sustained period of time or across a range of different policy areas.  Political power regularly changes hands and this is the case with pressure groups.  An influential organisation will therefore be soon displaced by another grouping if it becomes unrepresentative or if other groups are more ...

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