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Unit 13: Political Parties

the world. Legitimate use of this technique is contained in the observation of a leading Notes
Congressman: “Lobbying is an essential part of the representative government, and it needs to
be encouraged and appreciated.”
Lobbying: The technique of lobbying implies putting influence on the men in authority roles, it
covers every sphere of the government whether legislative, or executive, or judicial. It would be too
simple a view to agree with the phraseology of the law of 1946 or the interpretation of the Supreme
Court of 1954 that the scope of this tactic is limited to influencing the members of the Congress only.
Today no branch of American government can be said to be immune from the onslaught of the
technique of lobbying. The strictly legal implication is thus totally unrealistic in view of the fact that
the executive agencies “have given considerable leeway in implementing legislation through
interpretation and administrative rule-making. In addition, the groups wish to influence policy
proposals that are often authored in the agencies and then sponsored by Congressmen: For their
part, members of the Congress branch want the co-operation and political support of their clientele
in their dealing with Congress.”
No doubt, the technique of lobbying has its own set of evils, but the Americans have their own
notions about its legitimacy. To them it may be regulated but not outlawed as its abolition would
amount to the infringement of the essential liberties relating to speech, expression and assembly as
provided in the Constitution by the First Ten Amendments. To them the principal method of regulating
lobbying is disclosure rather than control. They agree that the statutory definition of this term has
been unclear and the enforcement of the Federal Regulation of Lobbying Act of 1946 minimal. It is
clear from the fact that so far disclosures have been few giving limited information and thus their
effects have been of a questionable nature. It is also feared by many people that severe restrictions on
the tactic of lobbying would hamper legitimate methods of influencing the decision-makers without
checking more serious abuses. To them, the consolidated and highly effective opposition of the lobbies
cannot be lost sight of. Moreover, it is also emphasised that there should be no ban on the desire of
some capable men who want “to keep open avenues to a possible lobby career they may wish to
pursue later.”
Critical Appeciation: The existence and articulation of interest groups has been denounced by the
critics for being opposed to the doctrine of the genuine representation of, what Rousseau called, the
general will. It is also said that in this type of politics a very shrewd and corrupt leadership enjoys a
position of special advantage at the expense of the position of others who are more deserving than
them. It is also alleged that the behaviour of the interest groups is hardly democratic either towards
their own members or other groups operating at the same level. The manner of ’hide and seek in
polities’ as shown by the groups not only differentiates them with political parties, it also makes
them immune from public accountability. All these evils of the politics of influence are very much
existent in the United States, though other democratic countries of the world cannot be said to be
exceptions in this regard.
If the politics of pressure groups has its weaknesses, it has its strong sides also. According to leading
American people, such type of politics makes its own important contribution to the successful operation
of their democratic system. The interest groups “play an indispensable function in identifying the
interests in the society to which the political system must respond. They also serve to increase
participation and to clarify issues in connection with the other great input function of the political
system — leadership selection. Pressure groups thus offer an important supplement to the official
system of representation. By permitting a more precise expression of special interests than can be
expected through the broad political parties or through district’s Representative, pressure groups
may prevent a sense of alienation and enhance the stability of the system.”

Pressure Groups or Interest Group in UK
Pressure group politics has been defined as the ‘field of organised groups possessing both formal
structure and real common interests in so far as they influence the decisions of public bodies, or
alternatively, in so far as they seek to influence the process of government. A pressure group plays
the role of hide and seek in politics and, as such, it becomes fundamentally different from a political
party that plays its part openly in the political process of the country. Moreover, the range of interest

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