“Political parties and pressure groups are sine qua non of democracy.’ Comment.
How the answer moves
The flow snapshot — the routes in, the body, the counter-view and the routes out.
Route 1 democracy = organised choice → parties + pressure groups the two channels that make choice possible
Route 2 claim restated → both are the indispensable machinery linking citizens to power
Laski: only alternative to party government is dictatorship → parties convert demands → programmes, supply govt + opposition → Hague & Harrop: without parties, “chaos of individual opinions” → pressure groups complete the machinery → Finer “invisible empires”: policy influence without office, voice minorities parties overlook → Kothari: widen participation, “non-party political process,” beyond the vote → Webb: together they give citizens control over elites → Schattschneider: democracy’s foundation tied to both
behaviouralist caution: parties → electoral machines, pressure groups → junior partners → wealthier groups crowd out weaker voices → indispensability is conditional
Route 1 sine qua non only as living channels of representation, not vote-gathering bodies
Route 2 statement holds, but form must serve function — revive the representative/movement character
Model answer
Handwritten, in the form it would be written in the examination hall.
