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How pressure groups can make democracy strong
Pressure groups influencing government policy
Pressure groups influencing government policy
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Distinguish Between Sectional and Promotional Pressure Groups
Sectional groups seek to represent the common interests of a
particular section of society. As a result, members of sectional
groups are directly and personally concerned with the outcome of the
campaign fought by the group because they usually stand to gain
professionally and/or economically. Trade unions, employers'
associations and professional bodies are all sectional groups and
membership is usually restricted. Promotional groups endeavour to
promote a particular cause, and for this reason are sometimes called
'cause' groups. They are not self-interested in that the achievement
of their objectives is not necessarily of direct professional or
economic benefit to the members of the group. Examples of cause groups
are Shelter, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and Greenpeace.
Because cause groups aim to promote a cause - which might potentially
be supported by everybody, regardless of their profession or economic
position - membership is not usually restricted.
(2) What methods do pressure groups employ to influence the political
process?
The aim of all pressure groups is to influence the people who actually
have the power to make decisions. Pressure groups do not look for the
power of political office for themselves, but do seek to influence the
decisions made by those who do hold this political power. Often
pressure groups find themselves competing with rival pressure groups
with the aim of gaining an advantage over them, but sometimes groups
work together to achieve a common aim.
Pressure groups provide a means of popular participation in national
politics between elections. They are sometimes able to gather
sufficient support to force government to amend or even scrap
legislation. Pressure groups also provide a means of participation in
local politics between elections. For example, in 1994 the A452
Co-ordination Group campaigned to block plans by Warwickshire County
Council to make the A452 a dual carriageway. After the group's intense
lobbying, the council dropped the plans. Pressure groups also act as a
sense of specialist knowledge, and often have access to information
Political Interest Groups take to activities such as political action, provision of materials, exchange of information, and Cooperation. Any form of political action is the most direct method, they can force from voting and campaign to influence of the selection and action of political authorities. Provisioning of material resources provide greats to political actors, this way is illegal depending on the greats and services offered to the political personnel for a desired outcome. Information exchange is also used by private groups for those in the political system helping obtain special information they probably couldn’t receive on their own. Cooperation plays a major role with interest groups and the political system. Policies are more acceptable to the affected group if they ap...
One is by using specific, convincing, rhetoric, often referred to as “active rhetoric”. For example, on their website, they say: “We need you to take action on your pro-choice beliefs. Every day, anti-choice activists work to take away our right to choose. Pro-choice Americans can never stop standing up for access to abortion, birth control, and sex education. Your action will make a difference for women and families.” This type of rhetoric doesn’t prevent collective action problems, but it does try to combat them. They also give lists of ways you can get involved, providing links to websites that help people get active in protesting abortion clinic violence, defunding, and harassment, among others. Putting the information at people’s fingertips is an incredibly effective way of discouraging collective action problems. People are inherently lazy and self-interested, so going to the trouble to source websites, and search for associated causes and organizations would likely be a huge factor in them saying “oh well, so many other people are helping, I don 't really need to.” Further, they have a donation page that is easily accessible, and prominent on their home
John, Steve. The Persuaders: When Lobbyists Matter. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002. Print. The. Lobbyist & Lobbying.
Many of these assemblies we can call voluntary or interest groups. A few examples of these types of groups include labor unions, banks, corporations, environmental activists, civil rights activists, and trade associations. These groups work to sway the public for or against certain issues, as well as lobby for political candidates who will represent those views.
Politics is defined as “the way people decide who gets what, when, where, how, and why—without resorting to violence” (McDonough 20). The author asserts that politics is the alternative pathway for a society to make decisions besides choosing violent means to go about doing so. Instead of using force, politicians use words and the method of persuasion in order to get what they want. When a society has a group of people who feel they are not fairly represented by their elected officials, they will often turn to violence in order to implement changes to the political process that will put in place the rules and regulations they are seeking.
Social Influence Research - Do the Ends Justify the Means? To what extent does the importance of social influence research, justify the methods used in its investigation? The debate about ethics in psychology focuses on two areas: protection of participants and benefiting society. This is a double obligation dilemma as if some psychologists are not allowed to do certain experiments because of ethical restraints; this can cause problems with validity.
These pluralistic interest groups are free to operate and lobby in the political arena, fighting against the majority and other competing factions for voice in Congress. With the influence of multiple factions operating throughout the political system, a balance of power is created (Kernell 2000, 429). This is much like the international theory of sovereign states balancing each other’s power to create a political system that focuses on stability, yet is always in a constant flux of power. With this in mind, special interest groups are constantly contending for power by raising money, campaigning, and lobbying in Congress. When a special interest group is threatened by a competing policy, the group will organize efforts to balance, or transcend the power of the competing group.
When I looked over the list of possible interest groups that I could choose from Health Insurance Association of America (HIAA) automatically stood out to me. I chose this interest group because my major is Physical Therapy and I figured it would be interesting to track this semester because of the changes currently happening in health care right now. I had never heard of this interest group before so I had to find their website. When I started searching for it I had some difficulty finding it because another interest group kept coming up called America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP). I kept looking at it and found out that HIAA had merged with American Association of Health Plans (AAHP) to form America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP). America's Health Insurance Plan's URL is www.ahip.org that they use to post updates.
Interest groups are an interesting part of politics that usually gets overlooked. The term interest group is self-explanatory but the definition can be a bit more politically thorough: An organized group that tries to influence the government to adopt certain interests, policies, or measures also called pressure group. Interest group refers to virtually any voluntary association that seeks to publicly promote and create advantages for its cause. America is a melting-pot of races, religions, languages, cultures, beliefs, and ideas, yet it only
was attained or irreversibly lost.... ... middle of paper ... ... Pressure groups improve the accountability of decision makers to electorates if enough influence is made. It's undeniable that pressure groups play a vital role in British politics, particularly in today's less diverse society.
This essay explores pressure groups and their role in democracy and society. It also discusses how pressure groups use the media as a communication strategy to influence.
Politics is the means for attaining valued things. Although, valued things are different in every society, the means of securing those things has never changed. The competition for power, authority and influence will always be the backbone of politics. Applying power, authority and influence to the valued things that support the public good, will produce the quality of life a society desires. In the present day, citizens in the United States demand certain valued things such as welfare, education, safe streets and healthcare. Through politics, citizens can apply their power in many different ways to get the things they want. Power is the ability to get someone to do something they may or may not want to do. Through the use of or the application of coercion, persuasion, manipulation and negotiation, power is used to influence the system.
In today’s difficult economy who can afford to spend their hard-earned money carelessly? Americans want good quality and low prices, and businesses that advertise their product make saving money possible. Advertising was created for one reason, so businesses could make known their product (Black, Hashimzade, and Myles). Some consumers may argue that advertising is not informative, but that it is manipulative because some advertisements make false claims. Fortunately, there are regulations and consumer rights that promote truth in advertising. Consumers must embrace their rights to keep advertising the way it is meant to be. Advertising is meant to be informative and not manipulative, and consumers play a great role in promoting truth in advertising.
Greenpeace is establishing Local Group networks in all state capitals to support their key campaigns through the coordination of local events, and by applying public pressure through campaign activities such as letter writing. Local volunteers are an important resource for research and public education.
Grass roots mobilization: groups of likeminded individuals that bring about a solution to a public problem. These groups may not form larger coalitions and tend to disagree with the means of how to solve problem. These individuals and groups use numerous tactics to advance their interests. The tactics can include lobbying, advocating their positions publicly, attempting to educate supporters and opponents, and mobilizing allies on a particular issue. Perfect policies rarely emerge from the political process. Most often policy outcomes involve compromises among interested parties. Such as, Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD), Megan Law (Sex Offender).