pressure groups

• think tanks - a body of experts providing advice and ideas on specific political or economic problems.
• lobbyist - apply pressure to the government
• cause groups - organizations whose members care intensely about a single issue or a group of related issues
• Greenpeace is a cause group
• sectional group - seek to represent the common interests of a particular section of society. As a result, members of sectional groups are directly and personally concerned with the outcome of the campaign fought by the group because they usually stand to gain professionally and/or economically.
• insider groups - pressure groups that are regularly consulted by government departments
• outsider group - those whose aims do not enjoy the support of the Government. They tend to adopt media based, high profile campaigns to capture public attention.
• pressure group - collections of people outside government who campaign for changes in society
• Pressure groups such as Extinction Rebellion and social movements like Black Lives Matter show significant political participation shows there isn't a crisis of participation
• examples of sectional groups are Trade Unions such as the National Education Union (NEU) or the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT)
• examples of social movements are Black Lives Matter is a very good example of a social movement (see below). Back in the late 2000s the Occupy Movement was very influential too 
• social movements are like cause and sectional groups, but are much broader and often contain lots of different cause and sectional groups within them
• Private conversations with MPs or their advisors. These might be arranged due to contacts or other reasons - Insider method
• Drafting of legislation [laws] ready for an MP to sponsor through parliament - Insider method
• Writing research papers and sending these to MPs to read in order to help with the process of drafting legislation - Insider method
• Evidence given as expert witnesses to select committees [groups of MPs who scrutinise draft legislation] or enquiries. Trade unions will often be able to rely on the advice and support of their members in this process - Insider method
• Direct action in the form of protests in front of buildings or marches through the streets. These are often then covered by media - outsider method
• Launching email campaigns or organising e-petitions for people to sign. - outsider method
• Legal challenges to policies they oppose, such as the Countryside Alliance’s case against the ban on fox hunting in 2004 - outsider method
• Publicity stunts aimed to draw attention to a cause. In the early 2000s Fathers4Justice dressed in superhero costumes to protest what they saw as the court’s bias towards mothers in divorce custody battles. - outsider method
• Confederation of British Industry – represents thousands of UK businesses and lobbies for business-friendly policies
• Electoral Reform Society – focuses on reforming the UK constitution
• British Soft Drinks Association – lobbies on behalf of the soft drinks companies in the UK
• Lobbying Allows people with more expertise in a certain area to offer their assistance
• Lobbying means New policies or ideas may be suggested to MPs

  • In principle, anyone can lobby MPs
• Lobbying means Businesses represent themselves primarily, not society
• • ‘Revolving door’ of MPs and lobbyists – seen as corrupt
  • Wealthy individuals/firms have more lobbying power and are prioritised