What are the factors that may help to determine the influence of interest groups in different political systems?

    Hague and Harrop describe the ‘conditions of influence’ that interest groups have over government as four attributes: Legitimacy, sanctions, membership and resources. These 4 attributes determine how much influence interest groups have over political systems.

-   Legitimacy – Interest groups that have high levels of legitimacy and social respectability are going to hold more influence over government. This is because they are established and therefore people/government trust they can make rational decisions and demands.

-   Sanctions -  An interest group’s ability to invoke sanctions is important. For instance, a labour union can go on strike, a multinational cooperation can take its investments elsewhere etc. This gives that group quite a lot of leverage when it comes to negotiation as the other party will not want those sanctions to be put in place and therefore will be more likely to be persuaded. Promotional groups like environmental movements have less sanctions available to them.

-   Membership – The more members an interest group has, the heavier its influence on the rest of the public. However, it is not only sheer numbers of members that make a difference. The density of membership also makes a difference. This is the number of people who join a group as a proportion of all those who are eligible to do so. The higher this is the more authority and stronger bargaining position with government an interest group has. The levels of commitment among members also makes a difference to the amount of influence an interest group holds. If members are highly committed, then they will be more efficient and effective. An interest group’s influence is stronger when membership is not spread among several interest groups operating in the same sector. For example, American farmers.

-   Resources – The amount of money available to an interest group will have an effect on its levels of influence. When an interest group is struggling money can be used to expand campaigns and push towards creating more attention towards its aims. Another important resource is the amount of political resources available to an interest group. The size of this stock reflects the group’s position in society and politics. Resources available when it comes to research are also important as in order for an interest group to gain an understanding of the opinions of the public, and also the opinions of the government, research has to be carried out. An interest group that hasn’t done extensive research loses its ability to influence the opposition.