3C To what extent do pressure groups promote pluralist democracy?
I believe a pressure groups affect on democracy is dependent on both their aims and also whether they are inside or outsider groups, the insider groups having a more direct effect than outsider ones usually. However if an outsider group has the advantage of numbers then the politicians have a percentage of their electorate to be kept in mind, as they choose whether the politicians get to remain another term.
Although pressure groups have a somewhat unofficial place in how a country is governed they do have a place, its one where people can have a say, sometimes those who aren’t able to vote also get to share their thoughts and beliefs & through joining up with others that stand for the same beliefs as them can put their points across which may otherwise go unheard. In this sense its giving the minority a chance to speak out and perhaps even chance to influence the society their apart of. Being in groups with other people you share a common interest with means you’ll have more insights into how to make your aims come to light, one person could educate another and increase their awareness, having debates and meetings quite possibly leading to well thought out ideas, which can be past unto politicians in hope that it makes a difference.
Despite these groups enabling a voice, some say pressure groups only increase the gap between the wealthy and less fortunate, as groups with higher level of education and better financial status are likely to have more connections and possibly better organisation skills and so their pressure groups interest will be more likely to become reality and these will only be against the majority of the UK as working class is the majority .The more well off proportion of society are also a lot more likely to be members of insider groups and being such get to have more access to the outsiders who tend to do a lot more lobbying whereas insiders may just be able to make a phone call to a representative of someone high up in the political chain. Pressure groups although not aiming to run the country or take away power from the government, wish to impact them and check government power as well as defending their own freedom. Pressure groups tend to be autonomous and unreliant/affected by government so their role is to help keep a balance, in a place where it is sometimes feared that thought of as becoming more and more like a presidential state.
Elections only occur every couple of years, so in this time there is nothing officially demonstrating what the public want. Pressure groups act as a channel between public and the government, all year round. The give the government current updates on what is wanted from them from many different parts of society and when there are many voices and obvious and organised information being given to the government, it makes it harder to pretend your unaware of what is required by your people. It is because of this that many groups are able to force government to listen to them and incorporate their needs into the policies and actions taken by government.
All in all it has over the years been debatable whether pressure groups are much use and how much they affect and even promote pluralist democracy, as they tend to be a minority’s opinion and voice and even when it’s a large number of people they have no substantial influence on political goings on, these pressure groups aren’t official parties; even there insider groups can be ignored. Wouldn’t movements and events brought about by pressure groups happen in a different way or at a different pace without their existance? The public are in control of who leads them and sooner or later may have done something if pressure groups weren’t around, and there aren’t many if any at all, pieces of evidence that show statistics proving that pressure groups have made an impact on things like participation. However the fact that pressure groups exist at all is a great statement of there being a pluralist democracy as it’s a place where you can freely peruse and express your common interest. The fact that there usually is no age restriction also means that this non central power is even more representative of citizens and does promote pluralist democracy- when listened to in a way I feel they are promoting pluralist democracy and as such stand as a positive factor of our society that give everyone a chance to speak as one with others who want the same.
