ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the main theories relating to the overall impact of pressure groups on the British liberal democratic political system. The term 'liberal democracy' refers to a form of government whose main characteristics are government satisfaction of citizen demands, political choice and widespread political participation. Bringing together the two terms 'liberal' and 'democracy' enables certain basic features of this political system to be expressed. The chapter asks whether and how far it is true that groups provide wide access to government, with no group becoming dominant. More specifically, it surveys three views which suggest that power in modern British society is more concentrated and less dispersed, more elitist and less democratic, and less socially beneficial than classical pluralism maintains. The thesis that tripartism weakened parliamentary democracy was endorsed in the 1970s by both New Right Conservatives and by academics.
