Ensuring Competition and Debate

Pressure groups help to promote democracy by widening the distribution of political power. They do this, in part, because groups compete against one another. This ensures that no group or interest can remain dominant permanently. Group politics is therefore characterized by a rough balance of power. This is the essence of pluralist democracy.

However Pressure groups also threaten democracy in a number of ways. They:

♤ Concentrate power. Groups widen political inequality by strengthening the voice of the wealthy and the privileged: those who have access to financial, educational, organizational or other resources. Other groups are poorly organized, lack resources or are ignored by government.

♤ Narrow self-interest. Groups are socially and politically divisive, in that they are concerned with the particular, not the general. In defending minority views or interests, pressure groups may make it more difficult for governments to act in the interest of the larger society.

♤ Unaccountable power. Being non-elected, groups exercise power without responsibility. Unlike politicians, group leaders are not publicly accountable. Pressure groups usually lack internal democracy, meaning that leaders are rarely elected and so are unaccountable to their members.

♤ Undermine Parliament. Groups undermine parliamentary democracy by bypassing representative processes. They also make the policy process ‘closed’ and more secretive by exerting influence through negotiations and deals that are in no way subject to public scrutiny.