Advocacy Groups - Influential Advocacy Groups

Influential Advocacy Groups

There are many significant advocacy groups through history, some of which could be considered to operate with different dynamics and could better be described as social movements. Here are some notable groups operating in different parts of the world:-

• The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the American Israel lobby, described by the New York Times as the 'Most influential Lobby impacting US relations with Israel'.
• British Medical Association formed at a meeting of 50 doctors in 1832 for the sharing of knowledge; lobbying led to the Medical Act 1858 and the formation of the General Medical Council which has registered and regulated doctors in the UK to this date.
• Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and unilateral nuclear disarmament in the UK since 1957 whose logo is now an international peace symbol.
• Center for Auto Safety Formed in 1970 to give consumers a voice for auto safety and quality in the United States.
• Drug Policy Alliance (Drug law: USA)
• Electronic Frontier Foundation An international non-profit digital rights advocacy and legal organization based in the United States.
• Energy Lobby An umbrella term term for the representatives of large oil, gas, coal, and electric utilities corporations that attempt to influence governmental policy in the United States
• Greenpeace Formed in 1970 as the Don't Make a Wave Committee to stop Nuclear weapons testing in the United States.
• National Rifle Association Formed in New York in 1871 to protect the rights of gun-owners
• Oxfam Formed in 1942 in the UK as the 'Oxford Committee for Famine Relief'.
• Pennsylvania Abolition Society Formed in Philadelphia in 1775 with a view to abolish slavery in the United States.
• People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals Animal rights
• Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Founded in Manchester in 1889 to campaign against the 'barbarous trade in plumes for women's hats'.
• Sierra Club Formed in 1892 to help protect the Sierra Nevada.
• Stop the War Coalition against the War on Terrorism which included a march of between 750,000 and 2,000,000 people in London in 2003.
• Suffragettes Voting rights for women after direct action and hunger strikes from 1865-1928 in the United Kingdom
• The Affiliated Residential Park Residents Association Incorporated (ARPRA)Established in 1986 to represent residents of residential parks in New South Wales, Australia.
• Sunday School movement Formed in about 1751 to promoting universal schooling in the UK
• Tories Formed in 1678 to fight the British Exclusion Bill; it developed into one of the first political parties, now known as the Conservative Party.