Are Pressure Groups Good For Democracy?
Pressure groups are political associations that are filled with liked minded individuals who aim to promote and protect the interest of a section of the community, or promote a particular cause in order to influence the government and their decisions. Examples of pressure groups include the country side alliance which preserve to protect the country side, others include the anti abortion organisation Life which seeks to prevent the bill that allowed the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990. Pressure groups like this create things such as petitions,in fact Life had over 2 million names and they would also compile post card campaigns. These are few methods, demonstrations, marches and sit ins in popular areas such as outside parliament are also very popular and effective as it causes disruption and demands media attention.
Pressure groups can be seen as good for democracy in many ways. Democracy is the idea of enhancing the view of the people and trying to get them to engage Into political participation through methods such as voting at elections. Pressure groups allow greater education from a different perspective, informing and educating the public about important issues. This may be things like fracking and the pressure group Greenpeace who educate through the media on the issue and what the negatives are which the government do not want to say in order to have a certain amount of consent from the electorate.
In addition to this it acts as a good way of allowing people to organise and voice their views between elections. This is good as it acts as a way to keep MPs in check and hold the government to account throughout to the five years of government not just at the end. This can also act as a way to influence policy proposals by the government like fracking, the bedroom tax and other things such as the shutting down of Lewisham Hospital, A&E department, where there was so much uproar from the public that a pressure group called Save Lewisham Hospital's A&E was created, which actually led to the government reversing their decision for the time being.
And finally pressure groups provide an alternative way to participate in politics, this is especially good as more traditional forms of participation in politics such as voting are declining this is proven as figures such as the recent 3 elections consisting of 2001, 2005, 2010, of 59.4%, 61.4%, and 65.15. This can be combated by joining a pressure group it is legally recognised as a form of political participation as you are attempting with others to influence government policy and voicing your opinion.
However it can also be argued that their are reasons that are evident that also suggest that pressure groups are not good for democracy. One reason is the undermining of the government. By having continuous pressure groups highlight the flaws of the government this creates resentment by the public towards the government as they feel they are failing them. This furthermore adds the this idea of apathy and the discontent of the electorate, and instead of showing engagement by voting and having their view counted, people are instead showing total disengagement to the politics and instead not voting which is one of the reasons why we have such low turnouts at elections, this is turn adds to problems that we already have.
Not only this but it also questions parliamentary sovereignty that is held by the government. If there is constant pressure to make decisions that these pressure groups want that do not necessarily represent the whole country, it puts in doubt the idea of sovereignty and decisions being made by the government with the best interests of the people in mind. Fracking can be linked with this as constant pressure has been put on the government to stop. where as the best interests are to provide in the future cheaper fuel alternatives in order to give households more disposable income in order to for them to live a better quality of life.
One factor that may make pressure groups undemocratic is the fact that some groups’ leaders show an inaccurate image and perception of the view of the people part of it. This therefore implies to us that they are undemocratic internally which has negative effects on democracy in the UK as peoples views are not being represented properly.
By having this it effectively makes it the same as political parties like the Liberal Democrats and their coalition whilst in government as they promised tuition fees would most certainly won’t go up where as we have experienced the rise from £3,000 to £9,000. This creates distrust within pressure groups.
One major feature of a pressure group is that they are not democratically accountable for their actions and proposals. This is a major feature difference between Parliament and pressure groups. This in essence is one of the biggest democratic factors of parliament which pressure groups do not follow. Therefore this can be argued it is a majorly undemocratic factor of pressure groups. In addition to this there is no elective legitimacy deciding who leads the group it is who essentially creates it that leads it, this means that no input in who should lead the group from the members is considered making it undemocratic.
Pressure groups can be seen as representing ‘politics of self interest’ and may present the public with biased or false information in order to get their point across as well as extended support. This therefore is undemocratic as it is presenting people with misleading information which is not necessarily true.
Finally one of the most important undemocratic features that would not support democracy is that if a pressure group becomes to powerful they may create ‘hyper pluralism which can hold up the process of government by being to involved and questioning everything that the government tries to implement. This is theoretically stopping what the people want as the government represent in essence the view of the people and how they want the state to be governed making it an undemocratic feature.
In conclusion I think pressure groups are good for democracy as it opposes the government and pressures them enbetween elections which is good as we need some sort of outlet that can do this in order to influence government policy and proposals. Even though pressure groups are not held accountable I still think that it is a modern way of politically participating and is the next best thing to voting as it shows a stand and clear engagement in politics as oppose to just stop voting. It shows a suitable modern alternative I feel and it also shows that 1,000 voices is better than one showing unity, clarity and a clear point to be made. This also builds a bigger communication platform between the people and Parliament.