1.3Pressure Groups And Other Influences Flashcards
(21 cards)
What are pressure groups
They differ from political parties, they don’t seek power but seek to influence the government to adopt their ideas, many forms of pressure groups
What are sectional groups (interest groups)
-Seek to promote the interests of an occupation or another group in society.
-Eg trade unions represent their members in negotiations with employees over wages
-membership usually restricted to ppl who meet a certain requirement, eg: the law society is open to solicitors in Negland and wales
What are cause groups (promotional)
- focused on drawing attention to a specific issue, membership open to anyone
Eg: green peace promotes awareness of environment
-many causal groups are also charities, lolemOxfam
What are social movements
Similar to cause groups, usually politically radical and seek to achieve a single objective.
Eg: the camps for climate action were created to protest against expansion of Heathrow airport, coal fired power stations
EG: BLM in 2020, a significant social movement
What are insider groups
Rely on contacts with ministers and civil servants to get their way. These groups tend to have objectives in line with the governments, increasing their leverage, example of this could be ‘the national union of farmers’ having close links with gov departments
Eg: low profile group - Howard league for prison reform rely on behind the scenes contacts
High profile group - confederation of British society, supplement their lobbying with media to make their case
What are outsider groups
Not consulted by the government, views tend to not go with governments
Eg: extinctions rebellion which has carried out several disruptive high-profile protests to achieve public recognition
EG: Just stop oil movement, holding disruptive public demonstrations
What are methods of pressure groups
- Insider groups may negotiate behind the scenes using their private contacts
EG: The national farmers union gave the conservatives gov specialised info, in return for influence over policy - Outsider groups may resort to influence through email campaigns and petitions
EG: Just stop oil protests through 2022-24, Trade unions go on strike as a key outsider method to cause disruption and negotiate for increase in pay, seen in train strikes, teacher strikes
What are lobbyists
Members who are paid by professional organisations who are paid by clients seeking access to government. Their purpose is to gain influence on behalf of their clients
- EG: in 90s when John Major was in government, number of cons MPs were accused of accepting money to ask certain questions in parliament, with the Guardian reporting MP Neil Hamilton accepted £2000 through a lobbyist asking questions on behalf of Mohamed Al Fayed
what are multi cause groups
groups which focus on more than one issue, just stop oil - environment and use of oil, petrol etc
What are think tanks
- group of experts brought together to investigate topics and offer solutions to complicated issues
- they have political leanings and strong connections to parties
EG: Right wing think tanks include the Adam Smith institute, left wing think tanks include Fabian society and institute for public policy
How can groups switch between insider and outsider status?
- some change according to changing political circumstances and political leanings of party in power
EG: Trade unions held privilege, and access in post war period, especially under labour, when Thatcher came to power in 79’ they were excluded from corridors of power, and made the enemy of the people
What’s an example of a Human rights Pressure group?
- Stoneweall
Charity and pressure group campaigning for LGBT rights, formed as an outsider group in 89’nin opposition to section 28 of 1988 local gov act - when new labour came in in 97’, it became an insider pressure group, getting more influence in policy, also using legal challenges in EU court of human rights, successfully causing a number of changes
EG: challenged banning of homos in armed forces, lifted by gov in 2000 - in 2022, Stonewall boycotted cons Gov first global LGBT conference over decision to exclude trans people from a ban on conversion therapy, as well as being involved in setting up protests against latest Supreme Court ruling about women, as it affects trans people (check this over)
What another example of a normal pressure group
- Marcus Rashford’s campaign for free school meals
- in summer of 2020, he teamed up with Fairshare, pressuring the Gov to reverse decision to not extend free school meals to children during summer holiday.
- he did this through open letters, e-petitions and his social media influence, galvanising social support
- campaign was successful, gov reversed their decision on June 16 2020
- shows importance of leadership, public support and celebrity endorsement for outsider pressure groups
How can success of pressure groups vary?
- it’s hard to judge success of pressure groups, outsider groups may consider publicity a success, whereas insider groups don’t boast to not offend gov contacts.
- Gov ultimately makes decision, and is unlikely to admit any outside influence on it
- much of success depends on public opinion and willingness of gov to make concessions
What role does resources play in a pressure groups success?
- large membership, with subscriptions allow pressure groups to run offices, pay staff, organise publicity, therefore gain a big influence
EG: RSCPA employs about 1600 ppl, supported by 100s of volunteers and can afford to spend a lot on advertising - for trade unions also, bigger membership is more important to the economy and will have higher likelihood in affecting public policy
What role does strategy and leadership play in the success of pressure groups
- Experiences, capable leadership is essential to success of a pressure group
EG: RSPCA played huge role in securing ban on hunting with dogs in 04’ by collating with 2 other groups to stop them competing, clear example of leadership, also Marcus Rashford in skl meals - for insider groups, a key factor is knowing which access points in the UK gov to target in order to achieve your goals, could be lobbying to gov directly, get a member of parliament to instigate a private members bill, etc
- outsider groups, capable leaderships are important to ensure public support, gaining media attention, eg rashford
How is public support key for the success of pressure groups
- groups representing public opinion are more likely to find success, as gov are more likely to change policy if it’s more likely to get them elected and is supported by public opinion
- EG: Joanna Lumley’s public support and leadership in the Gurkha justice campaign, campaigning for gurkha soldiers rights to live in UK was important in overturning ban in 09’
How are governments attitudes important in a pressure groups opinion
- Gov’s will listen to groups on which it relies for specific expertise, leading to insider groups often having more success
- insider contacts with ministers are crucial to success, eg national farmers union links to DEFRA were key in 2013 badger cull
- willingness of gov to make concessions, and change policy is also important
How do think tanks gain influence
- they have to be aligned with gov to have an impact on policy, as they have been criticised for being full of young people using it as a stepping stone for a political career
EG: David Milligan’s worked for institute for public policy research at beginning of his career
EG OF THUNK TANKS INFLUENCE: - Liz Truss and Kwarteng’s economic policy of deregulation in oct 22’ were influenced by institute of economic affairs
How do lobbyists gain influence?
- lobbying in the UK is big, over 100 firms, 4000 people, and 2 billion spent on it each year, but extent to which it holds influence is unclear
- it’s not as big as in the US though, with it controlling 3.5 trillion of gov spending
- lobbyists seek to influence gov policy by meeting with parliamentaries, gov ministers and civil servants to adopt policies in their businesses interest
How is the National farmers Union an example of a pressure group moving from insider to outsider status?
- under conservatives they had significant impact on policy, with Sunak in 2024 attending their annual conference, pledging to protect the British farming in the agricultural market, leading to him suspended trade talks with Canada, refusing to loosen food standards, which benefited 55k farmers
- since Labour however, Reeves introduced a tax of 20% on inherited farmers assets valued at over 1 million, leading to huge protests, and the campaign to ‘overturn the family farm tax’ with over 200k esignatures
