State decisions derive their legitimacy from the robustness of the democratic processes involved. In this system political parties and pressure groups are crucial to the democratic process. These organizations articulate the collective aspirations of different interest groups and represent these views in governmental institutions. Those who are more effective at securing their objectives may be considered to be more powerful, Power is conceived in relatively limited terms as the capacity for one individual, or group, to compel another individual or group to take action that they otherwise
Would not have done (Dahl 1957). This has led some pluralists to argue that a study of policy-making processes, and more specifically the outcomes of these processes, can allow researchers to make judgements about where power lies (Polsby 1963)