Changing the way you learn

(9) Has there been a decline in pressure groups?

Growth of Pressure groups
1. The growth of promotional groups
  1. Look at simply in terms of political participation, groups certainly appear to be becoming more important.
  2. Over half the cause groups now in existence have been created since 1960, and the membership of many leading pressure groups dwarfs that of contemporary political parties
  3. RSPB have 1 million members
  4. National trust has the largest voluntary organization in Europe with a membership 3.4 million
  5. Linked to this has been the appeal of the "new politics", characterized by greater political activism and the spread of grass-roots participation
  6. "New" types of political participation include political protest and what has been called cyberactivism
    1. Political action based on the use of "new" technology-the Internet, mobile phones, e-petitions, electronic voting, and so on.
  7. Examples of the politics of protest
    1. CND 1960's
    2. Anti poll tax 1990
    3. Anti-globalization London 2000
    4. Student fee protest 2010
2. More access points
  1. A variety of Pressure groups have also benefited from the fact that hew pressure point have emerged in the UK politics
  2. Devolution has allowed pressure groups to exert influence through the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Assembly and the Northern Ireland Assembly
  3. The Passage of the Human rights Act 1998, has substantially increased pressure-groups activity focused on the courts. This has especially benefited groups that represent the interest of minorities, and groups that have an interests in civil liberties issues
  4. The process of European integration has encouraged many pressure groups to look to exert influence through EU bodies, especially when they fail to influence the domestic policy process. It has also led to the formation of a range of European-Wide pressure groups
    1. European small Business Alliance
    2. European Free Trade Association
    3. Friends of the Earth Europe
    4. European Association for the Defence of Human Rights
3. Globalization
  1. Globalization has strength Pressure group in a number of way. In particular, there is general agreement that business groups have become powerful in a global age .
    1. This is because they are able more easily to relocate production and investment, so exerting greater leverage on national government
  2. Such trends have strengthened pressure on government in the UK and elsewhere; for instance, to cut business taxes and reduce corporate regulations
    1. Example Non Government Organisation
      1. World Development
      2. World social forum
Decline of Pressure groups
1. The end of corporatism
  1. The high point of pressure-group influence came in the 1970s. This was a period of so-called tripartite government or corporatism. A particularly close relationship developed between the government and leading "peak" groups, notably CBI and the TUC.
    1. Economic policy was therefore developed through a process of routine consultation and group bargaining
  2. Corporatism was dismantled in the 1980s, with the coming to power of thatcher government. Their approach was to keep group consultation at arm's length.
    1. alvow strict anti corporatism died with thatcher fall, the free market idea still dominates all subsequent government approach to the economy
2. A decline in meaningful and active participation
  1. An alternative explanation of the decline of pressure groups challenges the idea that recent years have witnessed an upsurge in group activity. This suggests that while group membership may have increased, these members have become increasingly passive. This is the phenomenon of "chequebook participation."
  2. Political activism is therefor increasingly confined to a small class of full-time professionals.

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(9) Has there been a decline in pressure groups?

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	Created by Marcus Danvers almost 11 years ago