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What are the functions of pressure groups? - Coggle Diagram
What are the functions of pressure groups?
Political Participation
-They have become more important because:
-political participation in the form of party membership has declined, but the membership of pressure groups has risen, becoming another way to get involved in politics
-One reason the membership has increased is because there are more access points, e.g. there are more devolved parliaments to put pressure on
However, in an election, your vote is active as you actually use your vote to try and elect who you want, however, there are chequebook members of pressure groups, who don't help out the pressure group in any other way then funding
Representation
Allows groups to have a voice to articulate their interest
They voice their issues nationally instead of locally, putting pressure on the government
Their representation is specific rather than the general
Alternative form of representation (functional representation)
This is an asset to democracy, as they can represent people with a particular concern, all over the country, even though there may only be 2 people with that concern in a certain constituency
However, some pressure groups have much more influence and power than others
Education
Raising awareness is a core activity of Pressure Groups
The point of this is because sometimes issues are not known about, and as soon as people know about them, these issues may be easily resolved in parliament
One way they do this is through social media
Citizen's often find out about an issue through a pressure group
If a Pressure Group has the public on their side, most of the time (Anti-Iraq War protest not included) the government will listen to the pressure group, because they want to be re-elected
Policy Formulation
e.g. FGEM - the government consulted FGEM and other similar groups, and formulated new policies to protect young women from FGM (female genital mutilation)
ASH (Action on Smoking and Health)
They pressured the government to putting information on packaging (e.g. Smoking Kills)
They also pressure the government into making smoking inside illegal
Pressure Groups can be involved in Policy Formulation
This is good for democracy because it adds informed information into policy making
However, it will often only be one side of the argument informing the government
Policy Implementation
Pressure groups are key because they let their members know about new policies, and therefore make sure the policy implementation is a success
As they are key to making these policies work, this means they have a fair amount of power
e.g. Over the last 30 years, farmer's have had 3 crisis' (Salmonella in eggs, Mad Cow Disease and Foot and Mouth) - The government worked with the National Farmer's Union to implement policies to solve these crisis', and the way the Farmer's Union helped them was making sure that the policies were implemented successfully