ABSTRACT
Though pressure groups now tend to be regarded by governments as the main channel from people to rulers for the expression of interests, it is the contention of this chapter that interests and views are still articulated more faithfully and fully, and at least in bipolar party systems, aggregated more equitably, through parties than through the cacophony of pressure politics. This is the case even though interest representation is not the prime function of the political party, and though articulation and aggregation are conflicting goals. What distinguishes the political party from the pressure group is that it seeks to capture political office rather than influence office holders. Though parties may in some cases have their origins in something very much resembling the pressure group – that is, they were formed to advance a particular set of interests or attitudes – their raison d’particular set of interests or attitudestre in the democratic advanced society has become the organisation of the electorate for the purpose of gaining a majority of the vote or whatever else the electoral system requires.
