Advocacy Groups

Paul G. Thomas is the Duff Roblin Professor of Government at the
University of Manitoba, the author of Parliamentary Reform Through
Political Parties, and the co-author of Canadian Public Administration:
Problematical Perspectives.

In a 2000 survey 70 percent of Canadians agreed that interest groups
were more influential than political parties. The authors of this volume
in the Canadian Democratic Audit use the term advocacy groups to
describe organizations that represent the interests of their members
before government, as well as those who promote specific public policy
causes. The aim of the book is to assess the contributions of such
groups to the health of Canadian democracy. Three broad criteria are
used: participation, responsiveness, and inclusiveness. Since there are
tens of thousands of such groups, it is difficult to generalize as to
whether they enhance or detract from democracy. In nine chapters, the
authors cover the place of such groups in democratic theory, the extent
and nature of Canadians’ participation in groups, the
representativeness of the group system in terms of the segments of
society included or not included, the ways that groups get their points
across in the corridors of power, and why some groups are more
influential than others. On balance, the authors see value in the
operation of groups. Governments are the targets of group efforts, but
they also support and regulate their activities. The book concludes with
recommendations as to how advocacy groups can improve their internal
democracy in order to build the political skills of their members and to
become more responsive to their needs and wants. The authors call on
governments to support advocacy groups as vehicles of democratic
participation by extending tax credits for membership fees in the way
that charitable contributions qualify. Of all the nine topics covered in
this Canadian Democratic Audit series, this is probably the broadest and
most challenging.

The authors have written an insightful and clear volume that will be
valuable to students, teachers, and interested members of the public.