To what extent are pressure groups more important than political parties?
• Introduction:
o Define important – whether PG’s carry out the representative and accountability functions of
parties, and whether they’ve expanded their influence into other facets of politics
• Discipline and endorsement – influencing the ideological direction of the party
o Discipline:
§ Control the selection of candidates, the nature of the platform and the ideological
direction of the party
o Endorsement:
§ The ideological platform of candidates can also be defined by the threat of negative
endorsement (NRA) or the prospect of positive endorsement
§ This means that it is often the very presence of PGs that influence the ideological
direction of the party – “Interest groups can influence the selection of candidates through
their very presence in the system” (Masket, 2007)
o Evaluation:
§ By increasing polarisation, it’s increased the renewal of parties
§ Endorsement doesn’t guarantee success for PGs:
• E.g. Boehner and the Hastert Rule; also, the National Right to Life failed to
influence the Roe v. Wade ruling, and even when it formed with the American Life
League – where it increased its membership to 11m and budget to over $2m – it
still failed to instigate any reform
o Nationalisation of Campaigns:
§ Contract with America, Six for ’06 and Pledge to America
§ Parties have since had an renewed role in policy formulation
Growth in partisanship
• Increased polarisation has decreased the efficacy of Congress, and has given rise to the
importance of PGs who can circumvent partisanship
• This increases PGs importance, as they can influence the passage of socially desirable legislation,
often by going directly to the Supreme Court, or through committees, agencies and the Federal
Bureaucracy – PGs, although often partisan in their values, are not internally debilitated by partisan
conflict, and can thus act more freely
• PG activism “is conducive to the modern recognition and evolution of human rights” (Michael Perry)
o NAACP and Brown v. Topeka
o ACLU and Obergefell v. Hodges
• PGs are therefore becoming increasingly important as Congress becomes increasingly polarised,
as they are a means of preventing partisanship from debilitating government
o PG’s “power has been expanded by default in response to the institutional failings of the
legislative and executive branches” (Van Patten, 2014), whereby Congress is “bogged down
by special interests” (Neely)
• Evaluation:
o The cause of increased gridlock is largely down to the influence of PGs such as the NRA
and auxiliaries of the Tea Party who are uncompromising – PGs are therefore perpetuating
the problem
o PGs are often confined to values and single issues, and thus can’t make that large of a
difference – parties on the other hand are representative of a plethora of views, so although
some bills may not be passed, in the scheme of things the legislative influence of parties is
far greater than PGs
• Money and PACs
o Control the voting habits of members, and the financing of campaigns
o Dependency
o Establishment of insider status
o Evaluation:
• Introduction:
o Define important – whether PG’s carry out the representative and accountability functions of
parties, and whether they’ve expanded their influence into other facets of politics
• Discipline and endorsement – influencing the ideological direction of the party
o Discipline:
§ Control the selection of candidates, the nature of the platform and the ideological
direction of the party
o Endorsement:
§ The ideological platform of candidates can also be defined by the threat of negative
endorsement (NRA) or the prospect of positive endorsement
§ This means that it is often the very presence of PGs that influence the ideological
direction of the party – “Interest groups can influence the selection of candidates through
their very presence in the system” (Masket, 2007)
o Evaluation:
§ By increasing polarisation, it’s increased the renewal of parties
§ Endorsement doesn’t guarantee success for PGs:
• E.g. Boehner and the Hastert Rule; also, the National Right to Life failed to
influence the Roe v. Wade ruling, and even when it formed with the American Life
League – where it increased its membership to 11m and budget to over $2m – it
still failed to instigate any reform
o Nationalisation of Campaigns:
§ Contract with America, Six for ’06 and Pledge to America
§ Parties have since had an renewed role in policy formulation
Growth in partisanship
• Increased polarisation has decreased the efficacy of Congress, and has given rise to the
importance of PGs who can circumvent partisanship
• This increases PGs importance, as they can influence the passage of socially desirable legislation,
often by going directly to the Supreme Court, or through committees, agencies and the Federal
Bureaucracy – PGs, although often partisan in their values, are not internally debilitated by partisan
conflict, and can thus act more freely
• PG activism “is conducive to the modern recognition and evolution of human rights” (Michael Perry)
o NAACP and Brown v. Topeka
o ACLU and Obergefell v. Hodges
• PGs are therefore becoming increasingly important as Congress becomes increasingly polarised,
as they are a means of preventing partisanship from debilitating government
o PG’s “power has been expanded by default in response to the institutional failings of the
legislative and executive branches” (Van Patten, 2014), whereby Congress is “bogged down
by special interests” (Neely)
• Evaluation:
o The cause of increased gridlock is largely down to the influence of PGs such as the NRA
and auxiliaries of the Tea Party who are uncompromising – PGs are therefore perpetuating
the problem
o PGs are often confined to values and single issues, and thus can’t make that large of a
difference – parties on the other hand are representative of a plethora of views, so although
some bills may not be passed, in the scheme of things the legislative influence of parties is
far greater than PGs
• Money and PACs
o Control the voting habits of members, and the financing of campaigns
o Dependency
o Establishment of insider status
o Evaluation:
