How do British Pressure groups exert influence?
… An indisputable definition of a pressure group, however, is very problematic, due to the several varying forms that they take, which perhaps explain why several definitions of pressure group appear ambiguous. The term ‘pressure group’ is relatively recent, yet ‘voluntary organisations’ have been attempting to influence policy ever since the late 18th Century. A typical example of this is The Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade. This was founded in 1787 under William Wilberforce, and successfully achieved its objective to abolish slavery in 1807. A pressure group can be a huge organisation like the CBI (Confederation of British Industry), which represents 150,000 businesses, and it can also be a single-issue locally based organisation like CLARA (Central Area Leamington Resident’s Association), which represents less than 300 households campaigning to preserve and improve the town of Leamington Spa. The definition also does not distinguish between the more …