Role Of Pressure Groups In Civil Society

In order to understand the role of civil society as pressure groups it is inevitable to understand the two terms in isolation.
Pressure groups are an association of people who seek to influence public policy and decision making. Pressure Groups often tend to push the interests of certain sections of the society, help seek friendly legislations, amend existing legislations or prevent unfriendly legislations.
Pressure groups aim is not to seek governmental power, but rather to influence public policies and legislations.
On the other hand, civil society is the "aggregate of non-governmental organizations and institutions that manifest interests and will of citizens." Civil society includes the family and the private sphere, referred to as the

Civil society therefore is one of the main players in the conflict mitigation and resolution process.
The civil society represents the people in the public forum, as they have no political agendas and are autonomous and statutory organisations in themselves, they can pressurize the government to take better steps for the public.
By the virtue of being formed by the people and for the people, they not only have the moral duty of highlighting the demands of the public but also the power and potential to speak truth and make the Government accountable and transparent regarding the injustices that it subjects the public to.
The larger role of the civil society can be hence seen as bringing peace to the society. The act of balancing what the public seeks and what is possible within the legal framework, is the role of the civil society.
Peace is only possible when there is justice and equality.
When civil society decides influence the public policy decisions, it can be said to be taking the form of a pressure group. The civil society can hence be established as a pressure group and this way the State Government can be transparent and

They often become the bridges that fill the gap between the public and those who sit for policy formation or are the government.
As civil society organisations are for the people and by the people, the concept of their existence can be linked with democracy. This concept was also brought out by Alexis de Tocqueville, in 18th century who had also linked it with democracy. He saw civil society organisations as important constituents of the political system which limit the absolutist state.
Western intellectuals later used the concept widely, not only with reference to what Tocqueville had said but also in several other contexts, mostly which displayed their discomforts with modern society and government.
For instance, Hegel saw it as the 3rd sphere, after the state and the market.
Indian writers like Rajni Kothari, have reiterated that civil society can be seen as an alternative to the bureaucratic and unresponsive state machinery.
Therefore, Civil society organisations, in the last decade have come to occupy the 3rd sphere of life after family and market taking an important position in lives of those in the public domain, becoming an influent organisation in policy