ABSTRACT
The main parts of the decision- and policy-making system are: parliament; central government; local government, teachers, the centres of academics and research work, students and their interest groups; and the newer interest groups which are so much concerned with parents. It has concerned two main issues. First, how internal organisation and the purposes of groups and opposition parties change as they become depoliticised and bureaucratised; it is assumed that they begin to take on the same characteristics as the governments and other organisations on which they put pressure. The second issue is whether interest groups are affected by the different purposes for which they are created, as, for example, between groups pursuing members collective interests or some more altruistic cause. The non-legitimised groups have a different role which is to challenge accepted authority and institutions until policies are changed, as with the campaign against physical punishment or the campaign in favour of comprehensive education.
