Do pressure groups enhance or threaten democracy?
Do pressure groups enhance or threaten democracy? Divergent arguments exist to suggest whether pressure groups enhance or threaten democracy, the process of politics and of policy making. Some argue that pressure groups are essential to democracy, a vital factor in deciding whether a country is truly a liberal democratic state. Others argue that the way they work and operate has little to do with democracy and in fact makes worse the in balance of power in the political system and inhibits the operation of Government. A pressure group can be defined as any organized group that does not put up candidates for election, but seeks to influence govt. policy, local govt. policy or even the policy of a political party. They seek to represent the interests of particular sections of society in order to influence public policy. General elections are too infrequent to be the sole means to influence policy. Once every 4-5 years is an inadequate public input and does not make the political system very democratic. However General Elections are not the be all and end all of the public's right to influence govt. This is where pressure groups come into play they seek to influence government throughout the term in office until their cause is met making the system more democratic. On top of this a limited choice exists in reality as to who should govern the country as the Labour and
Why are some pressure groups more successful than others?
Why are some pressure groups more successful than others? A pressure group is an organisation that may be formal or informal whose purpose is to further the interests of a specific section of society or to promote a certain cause; there are many reasons why a pressure group would want to do this too. There are various degrees of success with pressure groups, ranging from amending or passing Acts of Parliament to gaining public support. One thing that can alter a pressure group's success is whether the group is an insider or outsider group, and its relationship with the government. An insider group is one that operates within the political system and which normally has support from MP's, they are normally consulted by the government on matters that may affect the group or its members. The British Medical Association is an insider group and is consulted by the government regularly, recently they were included in discussions over the proposed NHS reforms and as a result of those talks the reforms were altered. Insider groups will have regular contact with MP's and other decision makers and so have more opportunities to influence them and their policies. However, an outsider group is one that operates outside the government, they have no special links with them but they still seek to influence decision makers by (usually) mobilising public opinion, an example would be Fathers