Political Parties and Pressure Groups
Parties
A political party is an organised group seeking to win and exercise governmental power through elections. Functions: aggregation of interests, recruitment of leaders, formulation of programmes, mobilisation, linkage between state and society, structuring of the vote and of government.
Types: cadre/elite, mass, catch-all, cartel, and movement or niche parties. Party systems: one-party, dominant-party, two-party, multiparty; distinguish system (pattern of interaction) from the number of parties. Know left-right and other cleavages (class, religion, region, ethnicity).
Pressure groups
Pressure (interest) groups seek to influence policy without contesting power. Types: sectional (protecting members' interests, e.g. trade unions, business associations) and promotional/cause (advancing values, e.g. environmental or rights campaigns). Also insider vs outsider, and institutional groups. Methods: lobbying, strikes, litigation, media campaigns, civil disobedience.
Parties vs pressure groups
Parties contest elections and aggregate broad programmes; pressure groups are narrower, do not seek office, and may exert influence across parties. Pluralism sees group competition as healthy; corporatism sees structured bargaining with selected groups; elite theory sees concentrated influence.
Traps
Do not say pressure groups never contest elections - some sponsor candidates, but that is not their defining function. Do not confuse 'catch-all' (broad appeal) with 'cartel' (state-subsidised collusion). Do not equate a two-party system with the legal existence of only two parties.
Rule of thumb
Ask: does the group want to govern, or to influence those who govern? Govern = party; influence = pressure group.
Worked example: A farmers' association lobbying for higher procurement prices and backing sympathetic candidates without seeking office is a sectional pressure group, not a party.