What is a pressure group?
Another hallmark of a liberal democracy is the wide variety of pressure groups, all attempting to influence Government policy. Pressure groups can be defined as organisations whose members all share common interests and goals, and they wish to influence Government to attain these goals. Pressure groups can focus on a massive range of issues; anything of even vague importance probably has a pressure group campaigning for it somewhere. For this reason, pressure groups must be classified in order to make distinctions between different types. The most common distinction is between insider and outsider groups. Insider groups are those groups that have direct access to Government, MPs, or other policy makers. These groups are often consulted by Government departments create new laws, and sometimes this has to be occur by law. For example, the National Farmers Union must be consulted on new laws regarding farming, under the Agriculture Act 1947. Outsider groups are groups that do not have dir
