Similar terms are often confused because they don’t know the difference between the terms. The same thing happened with the terms political parties and interest group people considered both the terms the same, and they think there is no difference between these terms.
Key Takeaways
- Political parties are organized groups that seek to control government policy by winning elections and holding public office.
- Interest groups advocate for specific causes or policy changes without directly participating in electoral politics.
- While both aim to influence public policy, political parties focus on broader issues, whereas interest groups concentrate on specific interests or policy areas.
Political Parties vs Interest Group
The difference between political parties and interest groups is political parties are involved in the election process and aim to win it. On the other hand, an interest group does not get involved in the electoral process and generally focus on one or two specific issues.
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The political parties are the entity that acts as a mediator between the political sphere and the population. Parties can also mean where people of the country can know the matter on social issues, and political terms and are informed about the votes.
It is a group that is extremely involved in persuading the government for some matter. They basically focus on one or two specific matters.
Comparison Table Between Political Parties and Interest Group
| Parameters of Comparison | Political Parties | Interest group |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | Political parties are the entity who can act as the mediator between the political sphere and population. | The interest group also acts as the mediator between the political sphere and the population. |
| Aim | A political party’s basic aim is to support the candidate from their party and make him win in the election. | The interest group aims to influence the government and people’s decisions and take care of the specific matter. |
| Flexible | Political parties are flexible as they attract the crowd so that they can win in the election. | Interest groups are inflexible, as they cannot attract a large number of people in the country. |
| Size | The size of the political parties does not help the parties to win the candidate in the election. | The size of the interest group gives the advantage as they can influence the decision of the people. |
| Deals to issue | Political parties concentrate on matters like immigration, education, taxes, health care, etc. | Interest parties focus on specific matters like political, economic, political changes, advantages and disadvantages of abortion, advantages, and disadvantages of abortion. |
What are Political Parties?
These parties mainly focus on the matter like social welfare of the people, equity of rights is given to each citizen in the country, taxes are fairly paid, maintain a good and healthy foreign relation, each one has given health care and gun control.
This party’s motive is to gain power by supporting its own candidate in the parties so that they can make their own decision in the different issues because of which they are generally criticized for focusing the interest of politicians first before the needs of the citizen.
What is Interest Group?
The interest group is basically the group of people who share a similar opinion on some matters which come together to affect public opinion.
Interest groups consist of labor unions, social groups, student unions, corporations, and businesses. This group is involved in a specific matter like environmental matter, minimum wages, or gun control. T
Main Differences Between Political Parties and Interest Group
- Both political parties and interest groups are created by individuals with common ideals, visions, and goals.
- Both political parties and interest groups focus on political, economic, and political change.
- https://read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/article-abstract/31/5/887/93480
- https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1354068811422639
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Emma Smith holds an MA degree in English from Irvine Valley College. She has been a Journalist since 2002, writing articles on the English language, Sports, and Law. Read more about me on her bio page.
