Why are some Pressure groups more successful than others?
The overall success of a pressure group is reliant on several factors such as finance, membership size, their status and impact.
In general, a sectional pressure group would be considered successful if they were able to correctly represent their sector of society, such as being able to transfer the groups views and thoughts on policies when (and if) they are consulted by the Government. This especially applies to insider sectional groups, as they are consulted regularly, such as The Law Society, Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and The British Medical Association.
These inside links with the Government can be displayed by a recent example concerning the BMA. The group planned to strike for 3 days in December of this year, but after negotiations with ACAS, the strike was postponed.
For a promotional group to be successful means they were able to affect legislation to be in favor of their cause, for example the NSPCC having the power to ensure that laws ensuring children safety are protected, and introducing bills that would protect children even more.
One factor that affects the success of pressure groups is finance. A group with supposedly more money would be more successful, as they can afford bigger campaigns to raise awareness. Some pressure groups do not accept financial support from the Government as they do not want to align themselves with a political party, so they operate through donations from the public.
Secondly, a group with a large membership size are also likely to be more successful, as
a large membership size means members can help more effectively with activities such as writing to the press, MPS and local councillors, and participating in demonstrations. The Government will therefore recognize the importance
of large membership recognizing that such members are
also voters who ultimately help to determine governments’ electoral fortunes
while large membership and especially high membership density (the ratio of
actual members to potential members) enhances pressure group representativeness
and legitimacy and may help pressure groups to attain insider status. We should
note also, however, that small local pressure groups concerned with small scale
local issues such as hospital or school closures can be effective even with
small membership and that the quality of membership may sometimes be as in
important as the quantity.
Insider pressure groups are generally more successful than outsider, as they have direct links to the Government and can easily influence the legislative process and can introduce bills easier (private member bills) through the support of MPs and Lords,
However, some groups don't want to be identified as an insider group, and pride themselves on this fact. These are often groups that have extremist views or conduct illegal direct action, such as the Animal Liberation Front, whom publicly encourage illegal activity, such as removing animals from labs and farms and destroying facilities; critics have gone so far to classify the group as terrorists.
However, it should be noted that particular groups don't particularly need insider status to promote their cause, as some may want to simply promote an idea or facts, such as the vegan society.
Nonetheless, despite a pressure group having a large membership size and a good source of fiance, they still may be unsuccessful.
For example, the success of Fathers 4 Justice has been argued. They are a generally well-known group, regularly make the mass media headlines through their daring stunts and have a good size of support from the public. Despite this, back in 2013 the Government proposed £220 million cuts to legal aid, which would make legal assistance difficult (
source).
To conclude, the membership size and status are generally the 2 biggest factors in determining a pressure groups success, but it is vital to consider that pressure groups do not need these 2 factors to be successful, and some groups may be unsuccessful for other reasons than low finance and high status.
