Pressure groups are a form of a pluralist democracy where a wide range of beliefs, ideologies and ideas is tolerated and allowed to flourish. It also implies a system where power is widely dispersed and not concentrated in a few hands. Pressure groups are mean to give minorities a say in a democratic nature, but there are a few pressure groups that suffer from a democratic deficit because of many reasons. Pressure groups are also a form of direct democracy, where the people take the power into their own hands, but what happens when pressure groups become very influential on policy making and over the government? Pressure groups do not have an electoral system, which is fine when they do not have masses of power, for example WWF have extreme amounts of power as an insider pressure group. However it could be questioned whether they are democratic any longer due to the lack of an electoral system for a powerful influential force. Moreover pressure groups cannot be held accountable when something may be their fault and is therefore undemocratic.
Moreover another example of a lack of democracy within pressure groups would be if they are supporting the minorities the majority is going to be unhappy, and democracy is all about looking after the interests of the majority. For example F4J is a sectional pressure group and therefore only fighting for one section of society, if everyone in the country was a part of a sectional or promotional pressure group then the country would be divided and fighting against each other for the ranking of importance with their issues. The government has a broad focus and looks at all types of issues occurring in society today and pressure groups place pressure on one feature only, therefore presenting a lack of democracy.
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