Pressure groups essays

Pressure groups essays A pressure group is any group of people who endeavour to persuade the government or government decision making, without becoming the decision makers or apart of the decision making process. Pressure groups do not seek to form government nor do they develop comprehensive policy platforms. There are two different types of pressure groups; they are either sectional or altruistic pressure groups. Sectional pressure groups operate on the specific interests of their members. They are identifiable sub groups of society that centre on achieving selective benefits for their members. An example of a sectional group is the Australian Hotels association. An altruistic or promotional pressure group exists and functions in the interest of and focuses on community values. They work for the public good as they believe it will benefit the broader community. An example of an altruistic pressure group is the Australian Wilderness Society. The Australian Hotel Association is a sectional pressure group which was formed to protect and develop the interests of Australias hotel industry. They function to promote the interests of its members such as taxation, excise duty, industrial relations and tourism. The membership of the pressure group is closed, meaning that membership is restricted to those registered under the Workplace Relations Act 1996. The membership has a hierarchy of elected individuals as there is a National Board of the AHA, the governing council and there is also a President of each branch. The Wilderness Society is altruistic pressure group functioning to protect, promote and restore wilderness and natural processes across Australia. Membership of this altruistic pressure group is open which means any person who believes in the values and goals can join up. The membership of the Wilderness society is based on volunteers from across the nation, and rely on donations t...