Power elite, bureaucracy, pressure groups and political parties.

Power Elite: Pareto, Mosca, C. Wright Mills, and Elite Pluralism. Pressure Groups: Unlike political parties, interest groups do not aim to take power in the sense of forming a government. Rather, they seek to influence political parties and the various departments of the state. They do not claim to represent wider interests and instead aim to represent a particular interest in society. They are classified by Maurice Duverger as:

1. Protective groups - defend the interests of a particular section of society. Membership is usually limited to individuals of a particular section only. Example: Trade Unions, MCI.
2. Promotional groups - support a particular cause rather than guarding the interests of a particular social group. Membership is potentially larger and usually more varied than that of protective groups since joining requires only a commitment to the cause. Example: PETA. Interest groups can apply pressure in various ways: By making contributions to the funds of political parties. By appealing to public opinion. An effective campaign by an interest group can mobilize extensive public support, especially if it attracts widespread coverage by the mass media, and its arguments are seen to be valid. By the provision of expertise. By various forms of civil disobedience or direct action. By illegal payments to elected representatives and state officials - bribery. Interest groups allow many individuals who are not members of political parties to participate in politics. They are necessary because even those who have voted for a government may not agree with all its policies. They also provide an opportunity for those who voted for a losing party to make their voices heard. They allow the public to make their views known to a governing party as circumstances change and new issues arise. They can mobilize public concern over issues that have been neglected or overlooked by the government. Wyn Grant, who supports an elite pluralist position, claims: The number of pressure groups has greatly expanded, and very few interests can now claim to be unrepresented. There is an increased use of direct action as it helps gain publicity. There is an increase in the number of pressure groups consulted by the government. However, it remains true that some groups have a greater influence than others. According to Giddens, pressure groups are the carriers of democracy. With increased industrialization, division of labor also increased, and thus emerged various sections, with specialized interests. However, modern democracy demands harmonization of interests, due to which minority or sectional interests may tend to get ignored. Pressure groups represent these interests. Their presence shows the existence of pluralism, making power dispersed and decentralized in the political system. Samuel Finer characterized them as anonymous empires. For Lambert, these are the unofficial government, which implies that no government can run without taking them into consideration. According to Functionalists, such groups play a constructive role in decision-making. They prepare the ground for orderly political participation. Conflict theorists, on the other hand, argue that although a few organizations work on behalf of the poor and disadvantaged, most of the pressure groups represent the vested interests of the business leaders, the lobbies of multinational companies, rich professionals, and political leaders. They further assert that these powerful lobbies discourage political participation by individual citizens. Marxists especially claim that liberal democratic governments disproportionately favor the interests of well-funded, well-organized, pro-capitalist pressure groups. The existence of rival pressure groups, for example, supporting or opposing the increased use of nuclear power, liberalization of abortion regulations, or the war in Iraq, will help to ensure that both sides of these controversial issues can be fully debated. By providing opportunities for political participation, pressure groups may indirectly help to ensure that citizens do not turn to more radical methods in their attempts to pressure the government. Hence, pressure groups are seen as providing a safety valve - preventing destabilizing opposition to the government - and thereby increasing the overall legitimacy of the liberal democratic political system. Pressure groups serve as a pool of talent for political recruitment; many party politicians begin their careers as pressure group activists. Richard Heffernan raises the possibility that pressure group activity might itself reduce political participation in the long term. The failure to get demands accepted can lead to disappointment, which may in turn increase political disengagement. Political Parties: A political party is a group of people who come together to contest elections and hold power in the government. It is seen as an organization of people interested in and working to control or influence the power structure of a community or society in a way they regard as best for their interest and presumably for the best interest of the community. Anthony Downs - Giovanni Sartori. Identified by an official label that presents at From the classical pluralist perspective, competition between two or more political parties is an essential feature of representative government. Political parties are organizations that attempt to get representatives elected to positions in parliaments or their local equivalents. Pluralists claim that competition for office between political parties provides the electorate with an opportunity to select its leaders and a means of influencing government policy. Lipset argued that, for efficient government, competition between contenders for office must result in legislature as a check on the power of the governing party. Pluralists claim that political parties in democratic societies are representative for the following reasons:
3. The public directly influences party policy since, in order to be elected to govern, parties must reflect the wishes and interests of the electorate in their programs.
4. If existing parties do not sufficiently represent sections of society, a new party will emerge.
5. Parties are accountable to the electorate since they will not regain power if they disregard the opinions and interests of the public.
6. Parties cannot simply represent a sectional interest since, to be elected to power, they require the support of various interests in society. Robert McKenzie Political ideas and programs are conveyed from the citizens to the legislature and the executive. Policies are molded and adapted due to various other factors as well. Contrary to interest groups, a party is expected to express itself on all issues relevant to government. One expects parties to propose views on domestic and foreign policies, economic and social policies, and youth and civil policies, etc. To meet these requirements, each party should have a program in which its fundamental positioning in various areas is retained. Furthermore, one expects a party to have a consistent organization. Some social phenomena that directly reflect on the attitude of citizens towards political parties. Where social relationships become lost, the commitment to political parties also gets weaker. The change in mass media and the way of reporting, the growing competition for attention and about politics, in which ideas, values, and results are less important than emotionalization, moralization, behavior, and misbehavior of politicians are known faster nowadays. This is certainly a gain in transparency and democratic control but it can also contribute to the disenchantment and sometimes also the trivialization of politics and its players. And its consequences have reduced the room for political maneuvers and have shifted decision-making power and management capabilities to supranational or international players. Although citizens expect national political actors to decide on their demands and expectations, important issues cannot be resolved by national political decision-makers. Consequently, political parties face a loss of confidence in their capacity to decide on important issues of national interest. Pareto also differentiated between governing elites and non-governing elites like media, scientists, academicians, bureaucrats Pressure Groups: Pressure groups are an organized form of active citizenry, outside the state, who put pressure on the political structure to bring about a change or resist a change which is either in the interest of their group or is in line with their values. THE CLASSIFICATION OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF PRESSURE GROUPS: • Primary pressure groups and secondary pressure groups • Sectional pressure groups [sometimes called interest groups or protective groups] and cause or promotional pressure groups and hybrid groups • Insider pressure groups and outsider pressure groups • Local, national, and international pressure groups • Permanent and temporary pressure groups PRIMARY PRESSURE GROUPS are organizations that involve themselves in political activities designed to influence public policy whereas SECONDARY PRESSURE GROUPS engage mainly in nonpolitical activity and involve themselves in actual political processes only rarely. INSIDER PRESSURE GROUPS are those groups that are most likely to be consulted regularly by governments. Example: Indian Medical Association, CII, Automobile Association, etc. OUTSIDER GROUPS may actively prefer outsider status because they themselves recognize that their own objectives are never likely to be shared by governments and believe that closer links with government will result only in the moderation of the groups' fundamental objectives. In modern democracy, they can be dysfunctional too as by representing self-sectional interest at times other interests get marginalized. It may be possible that sectional interest goes contrary to national interest. Certain pressure groups have also emerged using illegal methods e.g. terrorist organizations. Such Pressure Groups are referred to as ANOMIC PRESSURE GROUP. Thomas R. Dye - Modern urban institutional societies spawn a multitude of diverse interest groups. The resulting multiplicity and diversity reduce the likelihood that any single interest group can determine policy working in all fields. Gabriel Almond gives a 4-fold classification of pressure groups: • Institutional - DU teachers union • Associational - represents a particular specialized interest - workers, laborers, doctors • Non-associational - based on primordial identities - Khap, Jat Sabha • Anomic - coming out through a violent movement - Taliban Merton - ritualistic bureaucracy - follow means but do not achieve goals - this spawns public anger and dissatisfaction - spurs the rise of pressure groups and civil society. The two prerequisites of democracy are people's participation and accountability of politicians - PG / CS ensures both and thereby help maintain democracy and bring about social change. Noam Chomsky - the worst form of autocracy is US democracy. Political Parties: They represent the competitive concept of democracy that stands opposed to the vision of homogeneity, which supposes a uniformity of the will of the people. Jean Jacques Rousseau had created this vision that in theory denies the legitimacy of conflicts and defines democracy as the identity of the government and the citizens. This concept does not accept for a plurality of parties. They are not regarded as legitimate, as they would inevitably falsify the “common will” by their particular behavior. Deviations from the imposed and mandatory common good are not tolerated by this theory. However, it is obvious that this concept is characteristic of totalitarian states where the diversity of parties is banned and where the “common will” is defined only by a small ruling elite. Consequently, totalitarian states are identified with Rousseau. It should be noted that even Rousseau could not clarify how this “common sense” would be discovered and decided. We have to be aware that modern societies are characterized by a diversity of interests and worldviews. They need political parties as central instances for the representation of this diversity of interests within the political system. Weber on Parties: Whereas the genuine place of classes is within the economic order, the place of status groups is within the social order. But parties live in a house of power. Party actions are always directed towards a goal which is striven for in a planned manner. The goal may be a ‘cause’ (the party may aim at realizing a program for ideal or material purposes), or the goal may be ‘personal’ (sinecures, power, and from these, honor for the leader and followers of the party). Lester Milbrath - 4 types of political participation in a political system - political apathetic, political spectators, transitional activists, gladiators (will contest elections). According to La Palombara and Myron Weiner, political parties come into being when 2 conditions exist 1) attitude of citizens that they have a right to influence power 2) a group of elite who want to acquire power through public support. What is a political party? Criteria to identify political parties Why do parties exist? Parties and party systems Functions of political parties Typologies of political parties Parties and ideologies Parties and ideologies Challenges before political parties Criteria for sustainable and successful party work Political parties criticism:
7. They sometimes are defined in terms of serving interests: people take membership to further their own individual or group interests. 2. Zeigler and Dye: term political parties and elections as means to divert the public attention, they are for the creation of excitement, similar to Roman Circuses, they create false illusion, that power rests with the majority by creating a false impression of representation. Political Socialization: Political socialization can be defined as a process of socializing in a political system through information on political symbols, institutions, and procedures and internalizing the value system and ideology supporting the system. It is also a process of acquisition of political culture. This process works at an individual as well as at a community level through cultural transmission. It is one of the most important functions of the political system. It is also part of the general socialization which starts at a later life. The two important components are:
8. Inculcation of general values and norms regarding political behavior and political matters and
9. The induction of an individual or some people into a particular party and learning its ideology and action programs. The role played by mass media is equally important in educating the masses and clearing their views for making informed decisions regarding political affairs. It plays a very crucial role during elections. Political Modernization: It is the transformation of political culture in response to changes in the social and physical environment. According to political modernization is a multifaceted process involving change in all areas of human thought and activity. views political modernization as the systematic, sustained, and powerful application of human energies to control man's social and physical environment. Claude Welch describes political modernization as the process based on the rational utilization of resources and aimed at the establishment of a modern society. The process of modernization of the polity leads to the emergence of some crucial problems and challenges faced by the political system. It is rooted in the changing sources of legitimation of authority.