Examine the dynamics of pressure groups in multi-party political system. (UPSC CSE Mains 2017 - Sociology, Paper 1)
Pressure groups are the interest groups which work to secure certain interests by influencing public policy. A Pressure group has three elements:
- An organized group of people,
- The common interests and
- Exercise influence on the decisions of the Government.
- Pluralists like M Lipset, Rober A Dahl sees pressure group as a necessary element in parliamentary democracy for a number of reason:
- Participation: Pressure group allows many individuals who are not members of political parties to participate in politics.
- Supplementing electoral democracy: Pluralists argue that the pressure groups may supplement electoral democracy because they keep the government in touch with public opinion between elections. pressure groups give political voice to minority and vulnerable sections of the society. Moreover, pressure groups raise concerns about various social issues such as fundamental rights and liberties, poverty, environment, domestic violence etc.
- Dissent voice: Pressure groups are important to raise the dissenting voice of people who have voted for the government, may not agree with all its policies.
- Education - Pressure groups play a role in promoting healthy discussion and debate, and because they come from an angle of challenging long-accepted views, they broaden the variety of beliefs and views, leading to a better-informed public. An educated electorate means that public policy will better reflect the needs of society.
However, pressure can turn negative for parliamentary democracy because of following reasons:
- Use of unconstitutional method-Pressure groups in India tries to influence the government mainly through various unconstitutional methods such as strikes, agitation, demonstration, lockouts etc.
- Sometimes led to a mass violence-Pressure group involved with protest and certain radicalization of political life results in mass violence. For example, the Naxalite movement started after the fourth general election of 1967 in West Bengal.
- The threat to democratic set up-The tendency of pressure groups to resort to coercion to secure the solution of a socio-political problem in streets could be regarded as a serious threat to democratic setup.
- Ineffective for interest articulation-pressure groups like trade unions in India lacked trained and competent functionaries. They have been not effective agents of interest articulation in India.
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