Another factor which lead to the success of FOE is, FOE local groups use a wide range of campaigning tactics, ranging from political lobbying to public education through street stalls, and promoting citizen action. Many groups are also actively involved in injecting genuine policies and practices on sustainable development into their local agenda 21 processes. Using these methods can lead to their success because instead of just arguing with the opposition and/or the government, they a getting the public involved and active in their favour.
Regionally FOE local groups network closely together across their regions and each region is supported by a Regional Campaign Co-ordinator. These ‘Campaign Co-ordinators’ are another factor to their success because regional Campaign Co-ordinators are there to support local groups, and they are a mine of information about campaigns and contacts in their region. They also help local groups by co-ordinating work on some of the wider campaign issues and representing their views at a regional level.
Another factor which leads to the success of a particular pressure group is their organisation, or how well they are organised. For any pressure group, organisation is extremely important, if they wish to achieve any of their objectives. In a pressure groups organisation, the most important factors are:
- A network for recruitments (members)
- A source of income such as an organised system for raising funds
- Being able to research into the cause
- Having research facilities
- Organising the required staff
- Decision making such as “shall we march today or shall we march tomorrow and have greater success”
- Decision making procedures established and widely accepted
- A strong management structure to give directions and policies
- Being able to get the public actively involved or establish methods for creating publicity
- Formal links with the government bodies and/or the parliament.
A good example of an organised pressure group is the British Toilet Association (BTA). This is a very good example of an organised pressure group because they have a list of campaign activities which help to gather public awareness and to keep them organised in their campaign. The list I have gathered up from the BTA is:
BRITISH TOILET ASSOCIATION CAMPAIGN ACTIVITIES
- Membership - Communication with and between all categories
- Seminars/Exhibitions/Conferences - National and Regional
- Legislative Issues - Liaison with Westminster, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Belfast and Brussels
- British & European Standards - Monitoring existing and developing new standards
- Information Services - Product and Service suppliers
- Consultancy Services - Design, Specification and Maintenance
- Market/Consumer Research - User and Supplier/Product data
- Publications - Guides, Manuals and Facts Sheets
- Publicity/Promotion - Media Activity and Publicity Material
- Award Schemes - The Loo of the Year and Attendant of the Year Awards
As you can see, the BTA’s list helps them to stay organised. Comparing this list to the above list, you can see that they have done many things to help them stay organised. For example “Membership - Communication with and between all categories” is the same as “A network for recruitments (members).”
Without organisation the pressure group would not know what it was doing. It would be very difficult to get anything done such as recruiting new members and achieving their objectives. Being unorganised would also mean that a government would not take them seriously. By being organised the BTA has achieved many goals such as:
- Public Toilet Seminar, attended by nearly 200 delegates
- Local Authority survey on PC provision and attitudes
- Better Public Toilets Guide
- Welsh Public Toilet Conference at County Hall, Cardiff, attended by 75 delegates
- Summer Newsletter – sponsored by Fort James – with 25,000 copies distributed through C & M and CHT magazines
- Best value guidelines – from a toilet user’s perspective
- 1997/98 Audit Commission report on public toilets
- Parliamentary Early Day Motion – put down by Julie Morgan, which attracted over 100 MP’s signatures
- Best Value Consultation Questionnaire in conjunction with Mendip District Council
- Members’ Bulletin
- Westminster Parliamentary Briefing
- ITV Year of Promise Campaign – toilet upgrade project.
This is why being organised is a very important factor which leads to a pressure groups success.
Another very important factor which leads to the success of a group is its finance.
