Pressure Groups

Question 1

Outsider group

Answer 1

Pressure group that is not consulted by government

Question 2

Insider group

Answer 2

Pressure group that enjoys regular access to government

Question 3

Pressure group

Answer 3

Organisation whose members share common interests and which seek to influence government

Question 4

Sectional/Insider groups:

Answer 4

Represent a particular section of society and exists to advance or protect interests of its members

Question 5

Features of sectional/interest groups:

Answer 5

Concerned to protect or advance the interests of their members

Membership is limited to people in a particular occupation

Members are motivated by self-interest

Question 6

Promotional/cause groups:

Answer 6

Based on shared attitudes or values - exists to advance particular values, ideals and principles

Question 7

Features of Promotional groups:

Answer 7

Seek to advance particular ideals or principles

Membership is open to all

Members are motivated by moral or altruistic concerns

Question 8

Functions of Pressure groups:

Use PREPP

Answer 8

Participation - stop the war
Representation - Outrage 
Education - Occupy/Amnesty 
Policy formation - ASH
Policy implementation - NFU

Question 9

Pluralism:

Answer 9

Theory of the distribution of political power that holds that power is widely and evenly dispersed in society rather than concentrated in the hands of an elite

Question 10

How are PGs more significant than parties:

Answer 10

PGs have much larger membership than parties

PGs able to mobilise large numbers of people to demonstrate

Single issue politics has come to the fore

Question 11

Pressure groups remain less significant than parties:

Answer 11

British government remains essentially party government

PGs simply frustrate each other’s demands

PGs still represent minorities in society

Question 12

Pressure groups strengthen democracy by:

Answer 12

PGs provide essential freedom for citizens to organise

Help to disperse power

Provide functional representation

Apply scrutiny to government

Question 13

Pressure groups don’t strengthen democracy:

Answer 13

Powerful insider groups are favoured

PGs often not representative of their members

PGs are essentially sectional

Question 14

Factors influencing power of Pressure groups:

Answer 14

Size of membership - Make poverty history

Government support - CBI under conservatives

Insider status - NFU

Financial resources - WWF

Organisation - Fuel lobby

Strategic position - NFU

Backing of public - Hacked off

Celebrity support - High grant = hacked off

Question 15

Pluralist society:

Answer 15

Diverse society, where the people in it believe all kinds of different things and tolerate each other’s beliefs even when they don’t match their own

Question 16

Elitism:

Answer 16

Belief that a society or system should be led by an elite

Question 17

Civil disobedience:

Answer 17

Refusal to comply with certain laws considered unjust, as a peaceful form of political protest

Question 18

Lobbying:

Answer 18

Act of attempting to influence government leaders to create legislation or conduct an activity that will help a particular organisation

Question 19

Social movement:

Answer 19

Type of group action. Large, sometimes informal, groupings of individuals or organisations which focus on specific political or social issues

Question 20

Chequebook participation:

Answer 20

Pressure group in which activism is restricted to full time professionals, with the mass membership serving primarily as a source of financial support through subscriptions and donations

Question 21

Aims of a pressure group:

Answer 21

Seek to exert influence from the outside

Typically narrow issue focus

Members united by a shared belief or common set of interests. E.g. CBI, represents interest of 200,000 businesses within UK

Question 22

Differences between PGs and Political parties:

Answer 22

PGs exert influence whereas PPs want to win power

PGs have narrow issue focus whereas PPs have broad issue focus

PGs have shared interests and a common cause whereas PPs have shared preferences

Question 23

Examples of sectional PGs:

Answer 23

NUT

CBI

BMA

Question 24

Examples of promotional PGs:

Answer 24

Amnesty international

Question 25

Differences between sectional and promotional PGs:

Answer 25

Sectional PGs defend interests whereas promotional PGs promote causes

Sectional PGs have a closed membership whereas Promotional PGs have open membership

Sectional PGs benefit members only whereas Promotional PGs benefit wider society

Question 26

Characteristics of insider PGs:

Answer 26

Access to government e.g. CBI, NFU

High profile insider groups, CBI

Low profile insider groups, Howard League for Penal Reform

Prisoner groups (quangos), dependent on the government

Question 27

Characteristics of outsider PGs:

Answer 27

No access, or rarely and not at a serious level, e.g. CND

Potential insider groups, Countryside alliance

Outsider by necessity, they lack the skills to become an insider

Ideological outsider groups, groups with radical arms like Stop the War Coalition

Question 28

Differences between insider and outsider PG:

Answer 28

Insider PGs have access to policy makers whereas outsider PGs have no access to policy makers

Insider PGs usually have a low profile whereas outsider PGs have a high profile

Insider PGs have mainstream goals whereas outsider PGs have radical goals

Question 29

Successes of PGs:

Answer 29

Wealth - government listens to those with economic power e.g. CBI

Size - large groups claim to represent public opinion

Organisation and leadership - helps groups to mobilise resources effectively

Governments views - groups more likely to succeed when sympathetic with government

Question 30

Problem in distinguishing between interest and cause groups:

Answer 30

Some groups possess both characteristics

Some groups contain members with both sectional and promotional motivations

Some groups may mask their sectional motivations by adopting the language of a promotional group

Question 31

How have PGs become more powerful in recent years?

Answer 31

Protests such as stop the war in 2003 have attracted huge numbers of supporters

Huge growth in the ‘politics of protest’

Breakdown in community and rise of individualism has meant increasingly that people look for tailor made groups to represent their beliefs

Loss of ideology of major parties

Question 32

PGs have not become more powerful in recent years as:

Answer 32

Tuition fee protestors in 2010 did not succeed in making government change its policies

Stop the War have not achieved their aims

Many large groups simply have ‘chequebook’ members

Question 33

Why do PGs have differing rates of success:

Answer 33

Quality of access that PG has to government and other decision makers

Some groups are likely to be consulted by all governments, whatever their political persuasion

PG is likely to be more successful if aims run with grain of public opinion

Organisation of the PG

Question 34

Why are some PGs more successful than others: how do PGs seek to achieve their aims

Answer 34

Influencing ministers and civil servants -BMA on NHS reform

Influencing parliament - MPs can introduce Private Members Bills

Courts - Liberty on HR issues

Parties - parties happy to adopt policies if they are popular with the public

Media - RSPCA employ dozen media specialists so obviously think it must have some effect

Direct action - Plane stupid protest regarding 3rd runway at Heathrow