Direct Action

Techniques used by Pressure Groups

Overall, the pressure groups resort to broadly three different techniques in securing their purposes.

♤ Electioneering: Placing in public office persons who are favorably disposed towards the interests the concerned pressure group seeks to promote.

♤ Lobbying: Persuading public officers, whether they are initially favorably disposed towards them or not, to adopt and enforce the policies that they think will prove most beneficial to their interests.

♤ Propagandizing: Influencing public opinion and thereby gaining an indirect influence over government, since the government in a democracy is substantially affected by public opinion.

Direct action as a political strategy overlaps with some forms of public-opinion campaigning. However, whereas most political protests take place within the constitutional and legal framework based on established rights of freedom of speech, assembly and movement, direct action aims to cause disruption or inconvenience. Strikes, blockades, boycotts and sit-ins are all examples of direct action. Direct action may be violent or non-violent. A non-violent example of direct action is the protests organized at Ramleela Maidan by India Against Corruption (IAC).