Politics: what are the advantages of a pressure group having mass membership?

A pressure group is a group whose purpose is to influence decision makers but do not actually want to become elected. They can be categorised as insider or outsider depending on how closely they work with Government, if at all or as an interest or cause group – interest meaning that the members have joined for their own personal gain e.g. The Law Society and cause being where they want to change something concerning a particular issue e.g. NSPCC. It can be argued that mass membership, where a pressure group has a very large number of members and/or supporters, is either vital or not important at all to the success of a pressure group.

The members of a pressure group can provide funding, skills, help with organising events, publicity/raised awareness and the ability to communicate with a wider range of people i.e. the general public as well as Government and other decision makers.

Publicity and raised awareness are important to a pressure group because it allows people more information regarding a particular cause or issue that they may not have been aware of beforehand. It also encourages people to join in and voice their opinions on issues that they care about.
In 2005, Make Poverty History had a great success influencing the government by getting influential people involved, producing white wristbands for people to wear and show their support, and producing shocking advertising campaigns. They also involved the general public in events such as the Make Poverty History march in Edinburgh and Live 8. Many of them signed a petition to show their support, and this a great example of mass membership having a positive effect on the public and the government.

The public have a great influence over Government because MPs, who are elected by the public, want to keep the public happy and therefore be re-elected. This means that if a large number of people agree or disagree with an issue, MPs are more likely to take notice of them and what they have to say.

However, pressure groups that don’t have mass membership can still be successful because they may offer things that other groups can’t including expertise in certain subjects or issues and/or close relationships with MPs and other decision makers.

An example of a successful pressure group that does not have mass membership is Liberty. Liberty is a group who want to protect civil liberties and promote human rights and they do this by exposing and challenging laws. Although they do not have that many members, most or a lot of their members are lawyers and solicitors who are very knowledgeable about laws and what they can do to change them. This means that they are experts in their field and can therefore offer important information to government. Liberty do employ volunteers who are not necessarily involved in the law or politics profession but because Liberty have close links with government already, they do not necessarily need to be famous or popular but can work to influence government or decision makers directly.