Pressure groups and democracy

6 ways pressure groups support democracy

1. Competing groups = no elite groups and wide dispersal of power

2. Promote debate

3. Educate public

4. Improve decision-making

5. Often internally democratic

6. May be seen to supplement electoral democracy or have replaced it as a way to represent views and interests

3 ways pressure groups hinder democracy

1. Power is concentrated in the hands of very few groups

2. Groups are unequal in terms of wealth and power

3. Often undermine democratic process by being unaccountable

Representation of groups

• Ensure groups not represented in typical politics are represented (e.g. low-income children, Rashford)

Use of communication methods

• Access to mass media and use new technology like the internet to change the political agenda and mobilise different groups

Unaccountability

• Often ‘stalk the corridors of power’ and are not accountable to the public or the media

• Lobbying Act of 2014 also didn’t increase transparency

• Think tank funding is severely lacking

Leaders of PG

• Rarely elected, and TU leaders often elected on very low turnouts

Direct action

• Holds the country to ransom

• Operating outside of established legal and constitutional framework → operating outside and against the democratic process

Increasing political inequality

• Groups often empower already powerful as those who have money, expertise and links to gov’t are the most powerful

Groups that are excluded from both press groups and electoral democracy

• Homeless people, asylum people, children, prisoners

• Because difficult to organise and have to rely on others to protect them

Chequebook membership

• Signing up to orgs like NT is more about membership benefits than campaign objectives

Slacktivism

• Online engagement superficial

3 examples of rival groups that ensure a balance of power

1. Tobacco lobby influential before 1997 but was crushed by Action on Smoking and Health (ASH)

2. Business power countered by trade unions

3. Fossil fuel corps countered by environmental movement