Sectional pressure groups are ones that aim to represent the common interests of a particular section of society and are mostly concerned with only that part of society; so as a result, membership is often closed and restricted.

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HITIKSHA PATEL

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Sectional pressure groups are ones that aim to represent the common interests of a particular section of society and are mostly concerned with only that part of society; so as a result, membership is often closed and restricted. The also aim to get as many eligible members as possible to join the group.

Sectional groups might include; TUC, the Confederation of British Industry, the Institute of Directors, British Medical Association, Federation of Small Businesses, National Farmers Union, the Law Society

Members of sectional pressure groups are directly and personally concerned with the outcome of the campaigns fought by the group because normally they stand to gain professionally and/or economically.

Promotional pressure groups are also known as cause groups. This group follows a specific set of objectives- they aim to promote a cause, the achievement of which is not necessarily of direct professional or economic benefit to the members of the group. Examples of a promotional pressure group are- CND, whose cause is nuclear disarmament and The Society for the protection of the unborn child, whose cause is the prevention of abortions.

There membership is not usually restricted because they aim to promote a cause that everybody is likely to support. These types of pressure groups get members joining them because they want to join and can be sub-divided according to the aims they pursue. A pressure group for both of these categories would be age concern.

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There are many methods pressure groups employ to influence the political process.

Most pressure groups are careful to maintain a non-partisan approach; some can only realistically expect to exert influence if a particular party is in power. For example, it is only since labour came into power in 1997 that the Electoral Reform Society had any realistic change of achieving its goals because the Conservatives were strongly opposed to electoral reform whilst in government.

It is important to note that it is not always the pressure groups that approach parties. Some times if a party wants a particular policy to be supported, the party will approach the particular pressure group.

One way in which pressure groups can challenge and sometimes overturn a government decision is to take action in the courts. Legal actions are costly and long; however, pressure groups have now been using this method even more. A few of the larger pressure groups now have a legal representative or department.

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The cost of taking legal action means that, in general, the courts are only used as a last resort when all other methods have been unsuccessful.

There has also been a huge increase of paid political consultants who offer to act as intermediaries between pressure groups and parliament.

Lobbyists are used mainly by sectional groups and commercial clients; however, some cause groups do make use of them. Lobbyists have three main functions. The first one is to provide groups with political information, secondly, to bring groups into contact with MPs or officials, or to bring MPs or officials into ...

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