: Pressure Groups and Parties
: Pressure Groups and Parties
A ‘Haze of Common Knowledge’ or the Empirical Advance of the Discipline?
The central paradox in reviewing the contribution of British political scientists to the understanding of these intermediary institutions is that both the number of scholars and the output have been considerable, yet the international impact has been relatively modest. Two explanations seem plausible. First, with a few notable exceptions, the centre of gravity of these studies has coincided with the centre of gravity of British political science as a whole – it is largely atheoretical in its research style. A second possible explanation is that studies in these fields have tended to focus on activities (of groups and social movements) or on office-holding (parties) and have been much less interested in power as a concept. Relatively little is known about the effects that this activity has on outcomes in terms of public policy or the distribution of power in society.
Keywords: intermediary organizations, pressure groups, political parties, social movements, political science, Britain, power distribution
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