How do pressure groups add to a democracy?

It can be argued that pressure groups are undemocratic, and bad for democracy, in many ways. One reason why they can be viewed as being bad for democracy is because they are generally undemocratic in organisation. This means that they have no real authority with which to fight their cause, since they are unelected. The membership of pressure groups is also generally from the middle classes and so is not representative of the population. Another reason for why pressure groups could be bad for democracy is that there is unequal distribution of resources between groups, and unequal influence between different groups. This means that groups with more money will be more likely to be successful, because they are better able to promote their cause. Some powerful insider pressure groups could remove power from democratically elected governments as they attempt to pursue their own personal cause. Pressure groups also sometimes have unrealistic aims and this can lead the electorate to feel that the government are not handling situations correctly. Certain outsider pressure groups may choose to opperate illegally and so can undermine and attack the government, and so attack the political and democratic authority which the government posseses.