Pressure groups and democracy

The best and worst of pressure group behaviour cropped up recently in two contrasting stories. The first is about the human rights group Equal Love. the second is about the UK’s biggest union, Unite.

Equal Love are backing a legal challenge to what the group sees as discriminatory marriage laws in the UK. Yesterday a case went to the European courts seeking to allow civil partnerships for heterosexual couples and marriage for gay couples. This is a good example of how pgs can seek to advance the rights of minorities. It is also a good example of using the courts as a tactic in what for pgs is a multi-level and multi-arena game. Use of the courts has of course become more widespread and more high profile since the passage of the Human Rights Act over ten years ago.

We can juxtapose the above story when considering whether pgs are democratic or not, with another from yesterday’s paper. Unite’s leader, Ken McCuskey (who is elected, by the way - NB that students often state that pg leaders are not elected, and this isn’t true when it comes to union bosses), has warned of possible widespread industrial action in the new year in protest to the government’s austerity measures. Even the Guardian sees this as wrongfooted and evidence of a misreading of the public mood. Are the unions intent on taking Britain back to the dark days of the 1970s when more than one government was brought to its knees by strike action? Union membership is only a fraction of what it was thirty years ago and in this sense if the unions do stike en masse then we can question whether this is democratic.

E-Petition Fuels Commons Debate [15 Nov 2011]
Pressure Group Example for Exams [29 Oct 2011]
More excellent Politics moments on YouTube [20 Sep 2011]
Pressure Group Politics - The Rally Against Debt versus March for the Alternative [15 May 2011]
Supreme Court documentary [18 Feb 2011]
Nick’s journey [15 Feb 2011]
A new dawn for civil liberties? [14 Feb 2011]
Tory Party Bankrolled by City [9 Feb 2011]
Obama and gay rights [21 Dec 2010]
The student protests and civil liberties [26 Nov 2010]
Politics Classroom Posters - Pressure Groups [10 Aug 2010]
Getting into judges [30 Jul 2010]
Judges and rights exam update - contains link to excellent revision source [22 Apr 2010]
Judges and rights exam update [7 Apr 2010]
Gun crime debate [13 Oct 2009]
Pressure group power [12 Sep 2009]
US revision: comparing civil liberties [18 Jun 2009]
US revision: Obama’s health care reform [16 Jun 2009]
Law Lords Rule Against Government on Human Rights Again [10 Jun 2009]
Civil liberties [24 May 2009]
Pressure group success in action [21 May 2009]
AS note: no trade off in civil liberties [18 May 2009]
AS revision: UK pressure groups and democracy [17 May 2009]
The end of peaceful protesting? [3 Apr 2009]
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? [7 Mar 2009]
Reclaiming liberties? [1 Mar 2009]
Pressure group methods [8 Sep 2008]
Brown’s revolting problem [1 Mar 2008]