"Two key themes of the book are how pressure groups affect the distribution of power and how they impact on democracy. It is argued that, particularly at European Union level, the balance of power has shifted too far towards big business, while a longer-term shift from the politics of production to the politics of collective consumption has weakened the influence of trade unions.

The author argues that pressure group politics offers little to the socially excluded and that this is unlikely to change despite current rhetoric."--BOOK JACKET.