Interest groups are concerned with a self serving issue. This is why they exist. They have always existed, but in recent years they have begun to write legislation for elected people and with the recent supreme court decision on campaign donations they have been given free rein to give vast amounts of money to candidates to make sure their issue is passed into law. This undermines the democratic process because it goes against the common good of all the people and makes the process only for those wealthy enough to pay for laws and elections. The small donors can not compete with the money put into the process leaving them with no voice or input.
Pressure groups raise matters that governments might ignore.
One place to start - Federalist #10 by James Madison.
Slaves, Native Americans, and women and children were not included in the democratic process and were unable to vote in 1829.
The type of power that special interest groups have is founded on influence and pressure by the citizens. The citizens of any democratic nations serve as the main source power which is what special interest groups rely on.
It is certainly heading more in the direction of a banana state, rather than away from that. Pressure groups and the manipulations of parliament members rather undermine the principles of Democracy.
The type of government that Britain had from 1850-1913 was democratic. This was due to the pressure from socialist groups which formed trade unions.
No, WW2 was a very democratic process, it took its victims from all age groups without discrimination.
The democratic process is being subverted by special interest groups and lobbyists who get preferential treatment that the common citizen does not enjoy .
It can be argued that pressure groups are undemocratic, and bad for democracy, in many ways. One reason why they can be viewed as being bad for democracy is because they are generally undemocratic in organisation. This means that they have no real authority with which to fight their cause, since they are unelected. The membership of pressure groups is also generally from the middle classes and so is not representative of the population. Another reason for why pressure groups could be bad for democracy is that there is unequal distribution of resources between groups, and unequal influence between different groups. This means that groups with more money will be more likely to be successful, because they are better able to promote their cause. Some powerful insider pressure groups could remove power from democratically elected governments as they attempt to pursue their own personal cause. Pressure groups also sometimes have unrealistic aims and this can lead the electorate to feel that the government are not handling situations correctly. Certain outsider pressure groups may choose to opperate illegally and so can undermine and attack the government, and so attack the political and democratic authority which the government posseses.
Pressure groups are the organisations or the groups that attempt to influence government policies.
Blaise Datey has written: 'The socio-political process of innovation and planning as demonstrated by the introduction of CEGEP's in Quebec's education system' -- subject(s): Pressure groups, Social groups, Educational law and legislation 'The socio-political process of innovation and planning as demonstrated by the introduction of CEGEP's in Quebec's education' -- subject(s): Pressure groups, Social groups, Educational law and legislation
They believed in creating a United Europe free from influence from groups who thought to undermine European culture.