Introduction
The interest groups are extremely powerful in the Western countries as the source of the representation of the population in the political life of the country. In the contemporary society the shifts in the political arena of the communities are made as the result of the actions of the interested groups. These groups represent the formation of the citizens having the leverages for the exercising influence over the population. They have the power and opportunity to control the spread of the political ideas and behavior among the population. Meanwhile, the political life of the Western democratic countries is not predictable nowadays due to the fact that some of the states prefer to search for the new vectors of the political cooperation beyond the influence of the United States and the European Union as the most powerful actors of the international relations. With that, the paper concerns on the nature of the interested groups and their diversity, the role of these formations and their influence over the political development of the society in the Western countries in terms of the realization of the democratic principles.
Overview of Interest Groups in Western Democracies
The experts in the political theory define the interest group as the unity of the individuals acting as the association or particular organization that have been composed in the proper manner. The members of this formation share the ideas and beliefs regarding the political structure of the state in order to amend the conduction of the political life in the country. The activity of these interest groups raise different concerns among the population due the instruments used by these organizations for the implementation of the political goals. Some experts criticize the performance of the interest groups that leads to the appearance of significant problems in such authorized democratic countries as the United States. However, the theorists reach the consensus that the flow of the political life in the right dimension is not possible without the availability and existence of extremely different interest groups in the institutional system of the local state bodies. In this regard, one should keep in mind that the maintenance of the pluralism is one of the main principles of the democratic society as any individual should be provided with the freedom of expression. From this point of view, the health and stability of the political system of the country depends on the interaction between the different interest groups which exist in the political environment. Meanwhile, with the spread of the democracy and globalization across the world, the amount and volume of the interest groups promoting personal political vectors is increasing dramatically on annual basis. Given this tendency, the local governments and other state authorities prefer to cooperate with the interest groups because their role is high in the formation of the political ideas among the citizens of the particular nation. The interest groups underline the duration of the intentions of the individuals and different other groups of the society during the construction of the appropriate governmental actions and steps suitable for the implementation of the democratic ideas. In fact, the people respect the existence of the interest groups as they see in them the opportunity to exercise the control over the state officials. Therefore, the interest groups should be treated as the instruments for the organization of the citizens of the country in the organized manner for the achievement of the necessary objectives (Heckelman and Wilson, 14).
The main purpose of the activity of the interest groups lies in the fact that they should deliver the opinions of the major portion of the population to the state officials in the proper manner. With that the representatives of state authorities should take into account the position of the interest groups and adopt relevant measures for satisfaction of the interests of the population. Besides, the interest groups have the common intention to exercise impact over the state officials regarding the drafting and further realization of the public policy in order to receive necessary benefits. Despite the fact that the basis for the activity of the interest groups may vary due to the peculiarities of the surrounding community, the purpose is to prolong the interaction with the state officials. At the same time, the objective of the interest groups is to cause benefits for the limited amount of the citizens or share of the community. These groups have the opportunity to address the extensive public policy covering the interests of all the population of the country as the reduction of the gas emissions (Coates, Heckelman and Wilson, 22).
Consequently, there are several instruments used by the interest groups for the realization of the public policies necessary for the members of these organizations and their followers. These instruments include the following:
Lobbying of the particular agenda before the local government.
Participation in the election campaigns.
Launch of the educational programs for the population.
Organization of the different specific meetings (Han 2016, 8).
Lobbying of certain program or policy is the main method of the interest groups in the promotion their goals and objectives. For the purposes of the implementation of the lobbying in the reality, the interest groups hire authorized persons. These people or famous person should tackle the attention of the people in order to advocate the interests of this group, increase the amount of the followers at the political arena. In addition, lobbying of the policy or legal act should be understood as close communication with the representatives of the local government or any other state officials vested in with the functions to realize this piece of public policy. Meanwhile, the interest groups should deliver the attitude of the population regarding the adoption of particular legal act. This action is grounded on the fact that executive powers usually do not recognize the consequences of the introduction of the legislative amendments. Given this role of the interest groups in the Western countries and in the democratic system as the whole, one should state that these organized interests influence the development of the internal structure of the state bodies and their performance in the positive way. The interest groups show in what dimension the state officials should move for the satisfaction of the needs of the population as the main drivers of the democratic shifts in the society. Without the existence of these interest groups, the population will be deprived of the opportunity to set the priorities for the elected share of the community which should adopt relevant measures in the state bodies during the implementation of the internal and foreign public policy (Nord 2015, 130).
In contrast to lobbying of the agenda before the state officials, the interest groups prefer to be engaged in the election activities in the Western states. This approach is confirmed with the fact that the interest groups have the power to influence the outcome and flow of the elections as they may collect the preferences among the population and share them with the candidates. For the achievement of the desired objectives, interest groups may provide financial support to the candidates, hold meetings in the promotion of the position of the particular candidate. For example, the United States as the country with the stable and developed democratic system where the candidates extremely rely on the opinion of the interest groups as that cover approximately every portion of the American population that should be represented in the democratic process. In this regard, the interest groups should be divided into different categories based on the professional background of its members or ay other common interests. For example, the United States is aware of the activity of the National Associations of the Manufacturers, while the interest groups are untired under the premises of the specializes organizations of the professionals and trade unions. With that, the interest group is regarded as the vital participant of the political system of the Western state which resemble the entire representation of the population in order to communicate with the candidates to the state bodies and the members of the political parties. Besides, the opinions of the political theorists vary as to the effectiveness of the lobbying as the instrument at hand of the interest groups. Some experts believe that lobbying of the public policy is an effective method for the promotion of the desired agenda by the limited amount of the population with the purpose to represent the legal interests at the institutional structure of the state. This approach may be regarded as useful one for the prevention of the complete ignorance of the opinion of the population from the state officials. Given the fact that the population is the only source of the power and authority in the contemporary democratic societies, the state officials should take into account the moves of the masses and follow the tendencies in the behavior of the population. Although, the democratic society of the Western states is not perfect as in some cases the politicians ignore the opinion of the interest groups and their members accordingly that results in the detrimental consequences to the both sides. For example, the United Kingdom is passing through the period of the reformation when one part of the population prefers to exit from the membership of the European Union, while the rest of the community intends to stay within the premises of the formation. In this regard, the referendum did not cover the position of the young population and the citizens of the integral parts of the United Kingdom as Scotland, Wales and others. This example shows that there are different interest groups that may govern the actions of the politicians causing the tension as the political arena of the country. However, one can not predict the final resolution of this problem due to the fact that the impact of the interest groups for and against European Union are approximately similar to each other (Maloney 2009, 280).
Simultaneously, certain experts state that existence of the interest groups undermines the flow and development of the democracy in the Western countries. This position is grounded on the fact that lobbying is aligned preferably with the increase of the corruption among state officials. The members of the interest groups usually search for the followers among the state officials, while some of them are proposed with the bribes for the promotion of the public policy within certain period of time. From this perspective, this process is seemed reasonable while the democratic countries prefer to decrease the level of the corruption in the country by virtue of all available instruments. However, the interest groups are increasing and their voice in the political life of the countries becomes stronger. These formations assume the legal standing in the executive branch of the power in any democratic society which favors the right of the individual to participate in the life of the country with the voting process and other democratic instruments guaranteed under the primary international obligations in the human rights sphere. The interest groups serve the role of the assistants to the operation of the democratic system due to the representation of the shares of the society. In the United States and the United Kingdom, the most popular today are business interest groups. For example, in the business interest organizations facilitate the process of the adoption of the legislative amendments to the competition legislation of the country as the Federal Trade Commission Act in order to prevent the unfair practice in the business environment on behalf of the competitors located within the territory of the European Union. The majority companies have headquarters in the United States, while the system of the fines and penalties for the violation of the competition law in this country differs from the European regulations. Therefore, the position of the interest groups protecting the benefits of the business units vary based on the geographical location of the companies. The same situation is observed in the United Kingdom, where the power of the interest groups is seen in the sphere of the implementation of the obligations of the state regarding the reduction of the gas emissions. The United Kingdom is obliged to reduce the level of the gas emissions within the following five years, while the business units are not ready to change the production facilities because of its significant expenses. Although, the individuals and followers of the green sustainability movement stand to the position that the business units should follow this trend and proceed with the implementation of the green business strategy in reality for the realization of the British obligations.
Conclusion
The overview of the activity of the interest groups in the most powerful liberal economies of the world as the United States and the United Kingdom shows that these social formations assist in the promotion of the democratic agenda of the local governments. The interest groups guide the activity of the state officials and show them the dimensions for the further development. At the same time, the interest groups deliver the opinion of the population to the state officials and serve the role of the communicator with the different shares of the society playing the crucial role in the determination of the vectors of the foreign and internal policies.
Bibliography
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Han, Hahrie. 2016. "The Feedback Effects Of Interest Groups On American Democracy". Interest Groups & Advocacy. doi:10.1057/iga.2015.17.
Heckelman, Jac C. and Bonnie Wilson. "Interest Groups, Democracy, And Policy Volatility". SSRN Electronic Journal. doi:10.2139/ssrn.2613503.
Maloney, William. 2009. "Interest Groups And The Revitalisation Of Democracy: Are We Expecting Too Much?". Representation 45 (3): 277-287. doi:10.1080/00344890903129541.
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