Do Pressure Groups Promote Democracy?

I have not posted anything on the blog in quite a while now, that is because I, along with the few other contributors to this blog, are all at university now. I am currently tutoring a student in A level politics and have been making more notes here and there so I will start uploading them again seeing as the blog is still receiving heavy traffic and the fact that exams are coming up in a few months time.

DO PRESURE GROUPS PROMOTE DEMOCRACY?

This is a classic 45 mark essay that continuously pops up for 3C, the question itself however can be worded in a number of different ways to confuse students, but the basic ideas remain.

Pluralist Argument	Elitist argument
Supplement for electoral systems. Rousseu said that a country is only “free during the election of members of Parliament” – basically what he meant was that in between election time democracy does not exist or flourish, thus pressure groups are supposed to step in and fill the void. Elections only take place every few years, during which the elected representatives may lose touch with their constituents and fall short of their electoral promises – when this happens pressure groups can step in and force the government to interact with civil society, bring up issues that they may have ignored and get them to engage in it. So, pressure groups ensure that democracy continues to flourish in between election time by encouraging the government to actively engage in issues concerning various groups in civil society. EXAMPLE: Black Lives Matter + Planned Parenthood.	Schattsschneider. This political theorist argues that it is the pressure groups with the most wealth that get to influence government, the smaller less wealthy pressure groups are unable to have influence because the cannot afford things such as hosting mass campaigns, hiring professional lobbyists from K Street. Therefore, power in society is only concentrated in a small minority of elitist wealthy pressure groups. Philip Stern in his book ‘The Best Congress Money Can Buy’ illustrates how wealthy pressure groups effectively buy Congress and sway them. EXAMPLE: For instance,
Allow for transparency. Transparency is crucial to a democracy because it ensures that there is openness of government doings and people are aware that the government is not abusing them. Pressure groups allow for transparency through a number of ways, they have played key roles in recent years in exposing government agencies and congressional representatives, this is important so that constituents for instance are aware of what their representatives are up to and are working in accordance to their electoral pledges. EXAMPLE: League of Conservation Voters for 20 years they have published their list of the ‘Dirty Dozen’ congressional representatives who have poor records on the environment and by this they seek to expose them and hope to get them out of office in the next election. Amnesty International played somewhat of a role in the CIA torture report, helping the Senate Intelligence Committee, which exposed the CIA’s inhumane treatment of terror suspects.	Social immobility/gridlock. The pressure groups may be blocking all bills and slowing down or blocking desirable changes, thereby contributing to social immobilization. This may even lead to the prevention of the government from functioning properly as was seen in the government shutdown of 2013, which was primarily caused by Ted Cruz but supported, by a small amount of pressure group (Heritage Action and Tea Party Patriots). This shows that one or two pressure groups can bring an entire government to a standstill suggesting that power is actually not evenly distributed if one pressure group has the ability to influence a 16-day government shutdown. This was something that was opposed by the Democrats and even a vast majority of Republican pressure groups yet it still managed to happen.
Protect minority interests. In democracy there is a general tyranny of the majority over votes, meaning that the minority is usually ignored. Pressure groups occasionally adopt the view of the minority groups that are ignored, effectively giving them a voice and some influence over politics. Everyone has a voice in politics because of this. EXAMPLE: North Dakota Access Pipeline, threat to minority Native Americans who live there. They have the support of environmental groups, their situation has gained recognition across the country even politicians like Bernie Sanders have turned up at the site to show support.	Iron Triangles. These exist in US politics, they are simply relationships between three different political actors, a pressure group, a congressional committee and a bureaucratic department or agency. In an iron triangle each side works together but as long as its interests are protected, it is through iron triangles that policy is formulated. They’re called ‘iron’ for a reason because they’re impenetrable, other pressure groups with the same exact interests will not be able to get involved in this special relationship, thus leaving less influential pressure groups out of the political scene and out of influence.
Salisbury Argument. States that there has been an explosion in the amount of interest groups since the 50s and that they face each other over competing interests and that there is a constant shift in political power between the interest groups. One interest group is not always the most influential and it changes over time. This is generally seen through the NRA who occasionally have high points in gun control protection but are occasionally lose. This means that everyone gets a fair share of influence and there is general equality on the level of influence held by the groups. EXAMPLE: This is most evidently seen in Planned Parenthood vs National Right to Life. Explains why abortion remains a state issue and why there are still limits on it. Thus limiting advances made by planned parenthood in the field of abortion.	Elitism in the structure of an interest group. Many pressure groups themselves may not be representative of their members. Their officers are not usually elected. Few groups have procedures for consulting their members. As a result the members may not share the views expressed by group officials. This means that within the interest group itself, few unelected people without consultation of the membership make the decisions. This would suggest that the pressure groups are elitist in its very own structure and the way they work.
???	????