Page 324 - DPOL202_COMPARATIVE_POLITICS_AND_GOVERNMENT_ENGLISH

Unit 13: Political Parties

speaking, they fall into two main types with a hybrid in between. While some like business groups, Notes
co-operative and trade unions defend economic interest, others promote special causes such as
pacifism, nuclear disarmament, protection of animals and children. An initial distinction can also be
made between sectional interest groups like the Automobile Association or the Institute of Directors
and cause groups like the League Against Cruel Sports or National Viewers and Listeners Association
that are bodies created specifically to lobby on behalf of some general cause.
Though a detailed catalogue of the British interest groups can be made, it cannot be lost sight of that
all of them do not have equal significance in the political process of the country. Sectional interests
always dominate because they are specific, not general, and for this reason they have a potential
membership of active workers and leaders. These sectional groups may be classified as business,
labour and professional groups. While the business groups include the vast number of industrial,
commercial and managerial bodies like the Institute of Directors, Confederation of British Industries,
British Bankers Association of British Chambers of Commerce, National Federation of Building Trade
Employers etc., labour groups are primarily the TUC and the individual unions. Then, there are the
professional groups like British Medical Association, National Union of Teachers and Royal Institutes
of Architects and Surveyors. The cause groups are formed for some purpose of general good like
prevention of cruelty to animals and children, abolition of capital punishment, reform of prison
conditions, preservation of rural England, maintenance of international peace and security etc.
What deserves particular mention at this stage is that a neat and water-tight division of British interest
groups cannot be made on account of the nature of their organisation and working. While the categories
of business and labour groups can be chalked out without much difficulty in view of their economic
character, others may not be categorised in the like manner. For this reason, any categorization of
interest groups looks like being arbitrary or incomplete, by all means, it may be regarded as illustrative
though not a conclusive presentation of the matter under study.
Operational Dimension: What is of special significance in the study of pressure groups is their
operation in the political process of the country that varies from country to country according to the
nature of the political system. Two important points should, however, be given at this stage that have
their peculiar place in the British political system. First, Britain has a stable two-party system with
the result that while business groups invariably support the Conservatives, the labour groups do the
same for the Labour party. And though the professional groups are by and large free from such
ideological ties, they change their stands from time to time as per their specific interests. Second, the
operational dimension of pressure group politics covers three distinct areas — executive, legislature
and the public in general.
Of the three levels of pressure group activity mentioned above, the exercise of pressure on the
Government and Civil Service “is the most direct and most important sphere of influence, as the
concentration of constitutional authority in the hands of the central government, and in the executive
machine particularly, means that pressure on Parliament and the public is used only as a means of
indirectly influencing the Government. Also the most likely success for pressure groups is in the field
of administrative and legislative action, and here it is influence with executive that is most valuable.
Government departments and private associations generally co-operate with each other, since both
sides stand to gain through such activities as the exchange of information and the sharing of each
other’s goodwill. Between government administrators and private associations, there is an extensive
system of both formal and informal contracts.
The nature of public administration has now become such that the Government relies upon outside
bodies for technical advice and information, for co-operation in the framing of legislation, and for
help in the implementation of its policy. For instance, the Ministry of Agriculture relies heavily upon
the NFU for membership of some 50 agricultural advisory committees, from the Beer’ Diseases
Advisory Committee. The Government cannot ignore some organisations like County Councils
Association and the Association of Municipal Corporations over the reform of local government.
Some bodies actually administer legislation on behalf of the Government; for example, the Law Society
administering Legal Aid and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents acting as a Government
agent. In addition to the formal machinery for contact between the Government and the outside
bodies, pressure groups are able to exert influence upon individual ministers and civil servants in

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