Any change in government policies can affect citizens heavily. For this reason, citizens need to maintain communication with the government. It helps the government understand the ground reality of any issue. The citizens can do this task through various pressure groups.
These groups maintain close contact with the government and speak on behalf of any certain group. To a certain extent, these pressure groups can also influence the government. They often persuade the government to makes better policies for the citizen and different industries. Let’s learn how pressure groups work and the advantages and disadvantages associated with them.
How does it work?
It is a group of collective individuals, who works closely with the government and tries to influence government policies for better governance. The main objectivity of these groups is to help the government formulate policies, which will be beneficial for the group and overall inhabitants of the nation.
For example, the most common types of pressure groups are school associations, church societies, business organizations, and trade unions. Any government policy change can affect these groups heavily. Hence, these groups always try to influence government policies for their benefit.
Many political experts believe that these groups are essential for a democratic governing system. Through these groups, citizens can communicate with the government and help the government with better policies. Many times these groups bring the opinion of minorities who don’t have much say in mainstream politics.
These groups also bring forward critical information of the nation to the government. They also express different pieces of advice to the government. Through these pressure groups, the government can understand the opinion of the nation. These groups can also influence the public and set the agenda for the election. Many times, these groups also go against radical policy change in the government and detrimentally influence the government.
Advantages of Pressure Group
Pressure groups play an important role in government policy formation. They often contact the government on various subject matters. In short, these groups often become the voice of the citizens. They often give the government various data points about the nation, which helps the government formulate better policies for the people.
Even though pressure groups are not official political representatives of people, but they often represent different factions of society and various industries. Hence, they are very important for a democratic governing system.
Disadvantages of Pressure Group
Even though pressure groups are essential for a democratic governing system, but sometimes they can create trouble for the government. Many pressure groups are often influenced by different political ideology and they can put unfair pressure on the government. They can also instigate mass-movement and call for a strike.
These tactics often put unfair pressure on the government and prevent the government from making any radical policy change. In a long run, these types of erratic movements from pressure groups can slow down a countries growth rate. For this reason, most governments do negotiations with the pressure groups before making any big policy change.
- https://journals.lww.com/academicmedicine/Citation/1960/11000/Pressure_Group_Politics.35.aspx
- https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/BF01718992.pdf
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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.
