Legal Literacy - Learn about the important role and challenges of interest groups in digital democracy. Discover how they influence opinions the public and policy decision-making, as well as their impact on a pluralistic political system. An analysis of revitalization in the era of technological disruption and challenges in democratization is also presented.
Interest Groups
By definition, an interest group as an external pressure factor in a political context is a group of people with the same goals in mobilizing and influencing public opinion as well as decision-making in an institution's policy. In principle, interest groups can be based on ideology, religion, morality or even business. The goals and aspirations they pursue are aimed at benefiting a specific group segment or even society in general. They achieve their goals through campaigns that influence public opinion and influence decision-makers assuming that every policy taken by public officials should side with the affected interest groups.
As a result, interest groups are a key element in designing a democracy pluralistic that is healthy from the maximum determination of the government regime. Their role in integrating interests into a real political force changes the role of political parties that are too “generic” and “rigid” when they have to represent the more real interests of the majority (constituents). However, in a country with so many interest groups, competition between groups is unavoidable, and conflicts between different groups and the interests promoted by each group can undermine democracy.
From a historical perspective, the 1998 reform was a key moment and sparked a large wave of the growth of interest groups that grew sporadically with various issues and goals that these groups raised and voiced. As a result, the political climate is formed democratically, perhaps with the participation of some members of society conveying their demands using new channels outside of political parties, in the form of interest groups that align with the vision and goals of individual interests.
Revitalization in Disruption
In the landscape of a democratic country, the existence of interest groups plays a significant role in accommodating and mobilizing channels of individual aspiration with diverse interests in strategic spaces. Democratically, it provides maximum immunity to individuals and interest groups from potential acts of abuse of power by rulers who tend to be despotic and absolute in every policy decision. Therefore, it is undeniable that interest groups are key actors in the political configuration that, within certain stages and limits, can dominate a pluralistic political system.
One thing that is equally important in this era of technological disruption is the spirit and demands of civil society to realize a governance the government based on the concept of good government, such as the demand for comprehensive transparency regarding all matters concerning the public interest, maximizing democratization efforts towards access to public information, and involving the active role of individuals and civil society groups affected in every policy-making process.
Lately, the term “disruption” has taken root in every writing and post in the realm of social media. Cyberspace, which was once a new means of human communication, is now used more massively and intensively. From the beginning, the Internet has brought with it the principle of adaptation to human behavior. This includes the use of technological devices and their influence on our habits and behavior. Indeed, various recent advances have significantly changed human perceptions of life, but these advances also carry consequences. There is no avoiding it, a double-edged sword. Individual and social behavior is shaken as a result of the rapid transition process.
All utterances that used to take place in open public spaces are now increasingly becoming noise in the digital space, which has itself become a new public space. Especially in the field of politics and democratic life, which used to rely on voting efforts, there are obstacles in the form of noise. Even the concept of democracy has turned into clickocracy. Observing the process of public interaction in the realm of social media in the 5 (five) years after the 2019 General Election, there is a very visible process of shifting roles and the takeover of supervisory authority by the public.
Therefore, in a fully digital society, where most of the time is spent navigating social media, interest groups offer their members and individual communities the opportunity to participate in a more flexible political process. Members can influence government officials on at least one issue. They can assess the shortcomings of government programs and provide contributions in the form of videos or written content.
Democratization and Our Problems Today
Although there are various interest groups that claim to be fighting for society at large, in reality, the ideologies and orientations they support more or less contain interests. Therefore, from this perspective, the poor or the masses are unlikely to organize instrumentally with limited resources. Instead of acting as a channel for desires, stakeholder groups are vehicles that continue to dominate the interests of groups or subgroups at the top of society. It turns out that only some of these interest groups are able to influence or affect public policy, especially at the national level. Some other interest groups appear more as a reaction to current issues that arise or exist because of the interests of political parties. Some of these groups even function as interest groups.
Madison even discussed this situation in one of his writings in the Federalist, where he discussed how the "evils of faction" (interest groups) would play an important role in American politics. Not surprisingly, he had extensive involvement with interest groups throughout his political career, suggesting that he believed that interest groups can have a positive impact on politics, but only if they support policies that promote the common good.
However, he acknowledged the divisive—perhaps divisive—nature of some interest groups. These splinter groups pursue their own selfish interests. Madison predicted that such groups would remain strong and active, and indeed Madison was right. Political scientist Robert Dahl recently shared Madison's views in support of the theory of pluralistic democracy, arguing that political outcomes are achieved through competition and compromise between interest groups in a system of checks and balances.
*This article represents the personal opinion of the author and does not represent the views of the Literasi Hukum Indonesia editorial team.
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