Active Citizenship

• An active citizen is someone who feels motivated and empowered to make a difference and ensure that ideas don't just remain ideas
• Active citizenship is the exercise of rights for civic and political participation. It includes voting, mainly for office, volunteering etc
• A pressure group is an organisation that drives to influence the government
• Interest groups are a type of pressure group that represent a certain section of society e.g. trade unions
• Cause groups are a type of pressure group that seek to promote a particular cause e.g. environmental
• Social movements are a kind of pressure group without a formal structure e.g. protests
• Insider groups are a type of pressure group that are regularly consulted by the government and have aims in line with governmental groups
• Outsider groups are a type of pressure group that has no links or access to government and therefore cannot influence policy
• An example of a pressure group taking action is Greenpeace protesting for new oil licences on the PMs house
• A successful campaign is one that leads to a change in opinions, awareness or policy/law
• You can research using sources such as news articles, statistics, referendum results etc. This is called secondary research
• You can research using methods such as survey, interviews, letters etc. This is called primary research
• Primary research is up to date and relevant, however it can be time consuming
• Secondary research is easily accessible with low cost, but it can be out of date