Pressure groups and other influences Flashcards
(50 cards)
What is a pressure group?
A pressure group is a group of people who work together to try to influence what other people and the government think about a particular topic
What is a pluralist democracy?
Pluralist democracy = means that political power and influence are widley distributed so that different grpu[s can compete to sway the government in their favour
What are the key features of a pressure group?
- They seek to exert influence from outside rather than to win ot excercise government power. They do not make policy decisonsbut rather try to influence those who do
- They are external to the government and act as a channel of ongoing communication between people and the govermnet
What are sectional / interest pressure groups?
Sectional / interest groups = represent the interests of a particular group within society. For e.g. The Muslim Council of Britian represents the interests of all British Muslims and the National Union of Students represents the interests of all students . They lobby government on behalf of these defined social groups.
What are cause/ promotional pressure groups?
Cause pressure groups = promote a particular issue . Pressure groups such as friends of the earth and Liberty which campaign on behalf of civil liberties in the UK, are cause groups because their members are united in their interest a particular cause.
What are insider pressure groups?
Insider group = has privelleged access to government decision making. The British Medical association represents doctors and so possesses specalist information that governments will wish to consults. The Howard Leauge Penal Reform is an important organisation that can supply the home office with important information concerning prison reform, policing and youth crime
What are outsider pressure groups?
What is the national farmers union?
The National Farmers Union (NFU) is an insider, sectional group that works to protect the interest of UK farmers.
NFU campaign against BTB?
The NFU led a campaign against bovine tuberculosis (bTB), which involves killing badgers which pass the disease on to cattle.
The NFU argue that bTB is incredibly harmful to farmers, and means that tens of thousands of cattle have to be killed every year.
BTB has been harmful and costs the economy in the UK £100 million per year.
What methods did nfu use?
The NFU had insider contacts at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
DEFRA supported the cull, and so a trial of the cull went ahead in 2012 and 2013.
The success of NFU campaign?
DEFRA supported the cull, and so a trial of the cull went ahead in 2012 and 2013.
This was despite lots of public opposition - in 2011 opinion polls showed that the majority of the British public were opposed.
Other pressure groups opposed the cull, led by the Badger Trust.
This shows the importance of insider access for successful policy action.
Occupy London
Occupy London were an outsider, promotional group that protested the City of London’s financial institutions and their greed in 2011 and 2012.
What did the occupy london movement do for their campaign?
The Occupy London movement protested against corporate greed and social inequality.
This was part of a global set of protests for the same cause.
The group camped outside St Paul’s Cathedral in London, and occupied squares and abandoned buildings throughout London.
The group campaigned for a variety of causes - against climate change, against tax cuts and bank bail-outs.
What was the outcome of occupy London?
The group had many vague aims when campaigning.
The group was able to bring attention to their cause, but they were unable to achieve a long-term impact.
Many argue that this is because they didn’t have a clear goal.
The group didn’t have insider access to decision-makers, and so could only influence by doing public demonstrations to raise awareness and put pressure on decision-makers.
The City of London Corporation only complied with one demand.
What is liberty
Its policy experts and lwayers lobby mps and peers to vote against legislation that would negativley impact upon human rights
Its proffesional research papers are also widley consulted at westminster and the group regularly provides evidence for parliamentary select committees
Organises campaigns that publicise ways in which civil liberties are being threatened e.g. demonstrations, online petitions against limits to public protest and increased police powers of stop and search
What is liberty
Liberty is a membership organisation focusing on civil liberties in the uk
What is libe
Liberty is committed to fighting unjust attempts to undermine civil liberties in the UK through a combination of insider and outsider tactics
When was liberty established and what was it previously called?
It has existed since 1934 and was previously called the Natioanl Council for civil liberties
Not associated w any politica partys
Is liberty associated with any political party?
No, although former director Baroness Shami Chakrabati became a labour politican joining jeremy corbyns front bench team in 2016
What is libertys focus?
Liberty focuses on working through the courts and challenging the government and other bodies on a legal basis, rather than through direct action or high profile campaigning
The organisation includes many experts in human rights law and it is this expertise that is foremost among its resources
Examples of liberty successes?
The Human Rights Act
Scrapping plans for compulsory ID cards
(Other groups were also involved)
An example of liberty using the coyrts to protect civil liberties
In 2020 it supported ED bridges case against the south wales police that it had breached arctile 8 of the human rights act when it stored biometric data about him secure by automatic facial recognition surveillance
When the court of appeal ruled that south wales police use of automatic facial recognition required greater care in its implementation mengan goulding from liberty welcomed the judgement stating ‘facial recognition is a threat to our freeddom - it has no place on our streets
Recent 2024 example of liberty?
In 2024, liberty supported Black Equity Organisation (BEO) in a successful legal challenge against the Mayor of London’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) and the Secretary of State for Justice (SSJ) over a discriminatory GPS tagging system.
Membership of liberty
Liberty reportedly has over 15,000 ‘members and supporters’.
