External Influences on the Exercise of Political Power
Chapter Six
Syllabus topic 1.1.3, "External influences on Exercise of Political Power (Role of Interests groups, Lobbying as a technique, Examples from India and the USA)"
Pages 23 to 26 of 506
In one line
A government never decides in a vacuum: outside the formal machinery of the state, organised groups, the press, business, courts, foreign governments and public opinion all press on the decision, and the pressing is itself an exercise of power.
In the wording a student can write in an exam: external influences on the exercise of political power are the forces outside the constitutional organs of government which shape what those organs decide, principally interest and pressure groups, the media, business and finance, trade unions, religious and caste organisations, civil society and social movements, foreign states and international organisations, and public opinion itself.
Why the topic exists
The last two chapters described power flowing down: the state deciding, the administration implementing. That picture is only half true, and a student who leaves it there cannot explain why governments so often do things their own analysis says are unwise, or fail to do things everybody agrees are necessary.
Power also flows upward and sideways, from society into the state. The decision the Council of Ministers takes has already been shaped, before it reaches the meeting, by who was consulted, whose data was used, which newspaper ran which story, which association met which minister, and what the government believes the electorate will tolerate. That shaping is the subject of this chapter.
A word to fix: "external" here means outside the formal organs of government, not outside the country. A domestic trade association is an external influence; so is a foreign government. Students routinely read "external" as "foreign" and answer the wrong question.
The influences, by kind
Interest groups and pressure groups
Organised bodies that seek to influence public policy without seeking office themselves. They are the most important of the external influences and get the next chapter.
The media
Newspapers, television and now digital platforms shape the exercise of power in three distinct ways, and an answer that separates them reads better than one that says "the media is powerful".
Agenda setting. The press cannot tell people what to think, but it is very effective at telling them what to think about. A story run for a week makes a subject unavoidable for a government.
Framing. How an issue is described settles what counts as a solution. The same fact is a law and order problem, an economic problem or a human rights problem depending on the frame, and each frame has a different set of remedies attached.
Scrutiny. Investigation exposes what the government would not have disclosed, which is why press freedom is treated as a structural feature of a democracy rather than a private right of journalists.
Business and finance
Business influences policy through three channels that should be distinguished. Representation, through chambers of commerce and industry associations. Structural power, which requires no lobbying at all: a government that needs investment, employment and tax revenue adjusts its policy in anticipation of what capital will accept. And finance, through political contributions, which is where the influence becomes a legal question.
External Influences on the Exercise of Political Power
Trade unions and professional bodies
Unions influence labour and welfare policy; bar associations, medical councils and similar bodies exercise a distinct kind of influence, because the state has often delegated regulation of the profession to them, so they are simultaneously an outside group and a part of the machinery.
Religious, caste and community organisations
In India these are among the most effective external influences, because they can deliver both opinion and votes, and because personal law, education, temple administration, reservations and public order all touch them directly.
Civil society and social movements
Non-governmental organisations, campaigns and movements. The Indian pattern is distinctive: several major statutes of the last twenty-five years began as movements outside the state, and the right to information is the clearest example, having been demanded by a rural movement in Rajasthan long before it became a central Act.
Foreign states and international organisations
Treaties, trade agreements, conditions attached to loans, and plain diplomatic pressure. A state that ratifies a convention has limited its own future choices, which is an external influence its own citizens did not vote for.
Public opinion
The most diffuse and the most powerful. A government's estimate of what the electorate will accept operates on every decision, and it operates in advance, which makes it a textbook instance of the second face of power.
How the influence is exercised
The channels are worth listing separately from the actors, because the same actor uses several.
- Representation and consultation. Meetings, memoranda, submissions to committees and pre-legislative consultation.
- Expertise. Supplying the data and the draft. Whoever writes the first draft has more power than whoever approves the last.
- Publicity. Campaigns, advertising and now social media.
- Electoral pressure. The promise or threat of votes.
- Money. Contributions to parties, which is why the law on political funding is a Module IV question.
- Direct action. Strikes, bandhs, road blockades, hunger strikes, and the rasta roko, which is Marathi and Hindi for a road blockade.
- Litigation. In India, public interest litigation has made the courts a standing channel for groups that lose in the legislature.
A worked example
A State proposes to convert two hundred hectares of farmland into an industrial park.
The farmers' association organises a rasta roko and a march to the district headquarters: direct action and publicity.
The industry chamber meets the Chief Minister with a paper on the jobs the park will create: representation and expertise.
External Influences on the Exercise of Political Power
A national newspaper runs a series on the families who will lose land, and a business daily runs one on the investment that will go to another State if the park is delayed. The two frames make different remedies obvious: compensation in the first, speed in the second.
A caste association whose members are most of the affected farmers signals that it will campaign against the government in the next election: electoral pressure.
An NGO files a public interest petition on the environmental clearance: litigation.
The investor says nothing publicly at all, and simply lets it be known that its board will decide next quarter between this State and another. That is structural power, and it is the most effective move on the board.
The outcome. The government raises compensation, shrinks the park by forty hectares and expedites the clearance. Every one of those three concessions is traceable to a different external influence, and none of them was decided by the legislature.
Distinctions that carry marks
| Interest group | Political party | Social movement | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aim | Influence policy | Capture governmental office | Change society or policy |
| Contests elections? | No | Yes | No |
| Membership | Narrow and defined by interest | Broad and open | Loose and fluid |
| Organisation | Formal | Formal and permanent | Often informal, may be temporary |
| Accountability | To its members only | To the electorate | To no one formally |
What this is NOT
External influence is not the same as corruption. Representation, consultation and campaigning are lawful, necessary and, in a democracy, desirable. What separates influence from corruption is whether the transaction is a reason or a payment, and whether it is disclosed.
"External" does not mean foreign.
Influence is not always visible. The most effective external influence, structural power, involves nobody meeting anybody.
A government that yields to pressure is not automatically weak. Responsiveness to organised opinion is one of the things a democracy is for. The question is always which interests can organise and which cannot, which is the standing criticism of pluralism.
Quick revision
- External here means outside the formal organs of government, not foreign.
- The influences: interest and pressure groups, the media, business and finance, trade unions and professional bodies, religious and caste organisations, civil society and movements, foreign states and international bodies, and public opinion.
- The media works by agenda setting, framing and scrutiny.
- Business works by representation, structural power and finance. Structural power requires no lobbying at all.
- Seven channels: representation, expertise, publicity, electoral pressure, money, direct action, litigation.
- The standing criticism: influence is available to those who can organise, and the poorest are the hardest to organise.
Test yourself
1. What does "external" mean in this topic, and what is the common error? It means outside the formal constitutional organs of government, the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. The common error is to read it as "foreign" and to answer with treaties and international organisations alone. Those are one item on a list that is mostly domestic: interest groups, media, business, unions, community organisations, movements and public opinion.
External Influences on the Exercise of Political Power
2. Explain the three ways the media influences the exercise of power. By agenda setting, since sustained coverage decides which problems a government cannot ignore, whatever it thinks of their merits. By framing, since the description of an issue settles what will count as a solution to it. And by scrutiny, since investigation discloses what government would have preferred to keep undisclosed, which is why press freedom is treated as structural to democracy rather than as a private privilege.
3. What is the structural power of business, and why is it the most effective form? It is the influence business exercises without any approach to government at all. Because a government depends on investment, employment and tax revenue, it anticipates what capital will accept and adjusts its policy in advance. It is the most effective form because it costs nothing, leaves no record, and operates on decisions before they are taken, which makes it an instance of the second face of power.
4. Distinguish an interest group from a political party. An interest group seeks to influence policy but does not seek office; a party seeks to capture governmental office and therefore contests elections. A group's membership is narrow and defined by the interest it represents, while a party's is broad and open. A group is accountable only to its members, a party to the whole electorate. The line blurs when a group converts itself into a party, which has happened in India.
5. Is influence the same as corruption? Give reasons. No. Representation, consultation, expert submission and public campaigning are lawful and, in a democracy, necessary, because a government that hears nobody decides badly. The distinction lies in what is offered and whether it is disclosed: a reason, an argument or evidence is influence, while a payment or a personal benefit for an official act is corruption. Undisclosed influence occupies the ground between the two, which is why disclosure is what lobbying regulation everywhere tries to compel.
The rest of this subject
These notes are cut from the University's printed syllabus. Open the syllabus itself, or the past papers, for the same subject.