POS 301 Milestone 2

Comparative Analysis of Pressure Group Influence on Governments in European Democracies Student Name University Course Professor Name Date Comparative Analysis of Pressure Group Influence on Governments in European Democracies Pressure groups influence the governments of Bulgaria, France, Germany, Poland, Slovakia, and the United Kingdom. Although their activities appear similar, their impact variations are attributed to each country’s distinct political culture, legal systems, and historical backgrounds. Firstly, pressure groups are attributed to these nations’ political systems bearing pluralistic characteristics. Pressure groups are of immense importance in shaping public policies depending on the group’s interests and exerting pressure on the government to fulfill its promise on certain objectives, which may be economic, environmental, social, or any other issues the group has put forward. For instance, as experienced in Bulgaria in the 2013 protests of pressure groups involved in high electricity bills protest, demonstrated the ability to rally citizens and bring changes within the government, including the resignation of the Prime Minister. As in France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, well-established pressure groups, including business associations, environmental organizations, and charities, continuously lobby and advocate to pursue certain preferred policies among the EU countries. Pressure groups are not alike regarding their effectiveness and authority as they are preconditioned by certain factors peculiar to each nation. These are political/legal factors since they can influence how different people conduct advocacy and lobbying acts. Lobbying regulation has been developed in the United Kingdom. Similarly, Germany has done so to achieve some measure of transparency and accountability in lobbying processes, such as the registration of lobbyists and reporting of funding sources. In contrast, other countries have less strict laws regarding lobbying activities as they might allow for discreetness. Also, the nature of the political system in a given country affects how pressure groups relate to the government and vice versa for the following reasons. Groups operating in civil society-friendly nations such as Germany and the United Kingdom are usually well-equipped to pressure the government through proper channels owing to proper civil society interface structures, including government ...