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The acceptance, relevance and dominance of lobbying the EU Commission –- A first-time survey of the EU Commission's civil servants
Abstract
Among public affairs techniques lobbying is by far the most mystifying one — at least in Europe. Lobbying comes from the Latin word ‘labium’ and means ‘entrance hall’ or ‘lounge’. Therein the essential meaning can be seen: today political decisions are not made in plenary assemblies but primarily in the pre-political phase of balancing the various interests. Lobbying is to be understood as the ‘diverse intensive activities of social groups, chambers and companies in the political and bureaucratic vestibule’ (Beyme 1980). Modern lobbying on the EU level is an intermediary policy for the support of political decision making — even if some critics refuse to believe it. Lobbying at EU level has become a politically realistic dimension. Even if the mass media still take a very sceptical and negative view of lobbying in Brussels, based on the existing European taboo on influencing politics, an in-depth analysis reveals various lobbies at work in EU institutions. Lobbying today is an essential part of all EU decision areas. This paper describes the functional theory approach of lobbying known as ‘cooperation as confrontation through communication’. For the first time, recipients of lobbying in the EU Commission are demonstrating their acceptance of lobbying efforts. The paper is based on the doctoral thesis ‘The acceptance, relevance and dominance of lobbying the EU Commission’ by Peter Koeppl, University of Vienna (unpublished). Copyright © 2001 Henry Stewart Publications
... If we compare the National Security Strategy, NSS 28 , with the above analysed ESS, it is evident that, apart from identifying threats of terrorism and use of weapons of mass destruction, as well as placing emphasis on transatlantic cooperation and multilateralism, present in both documents, there is a clear distinction regarding the possibility of the USA's isolated action and preemptive military actions. 29 Th at being said, the positive relations between the USA and the EU can be considered as complementary: as much as the USA, with all its military potential, lacks a certain "political alternative" as a prevailing principle in settling international confl icts, so much does Europe base its international infl uence on political skills and use of economic pressure. ...
... Drawing on the vision and objectives provided for by the EU Internal Security Strategy 28 , the recommended model must prioritise the interests of EU citizens facing the rapidly evolving challenges 24 of the 21st century. Th e new security model would be expected to protect individual rights and freedoms in order to create the necessary balance between advancing security (on the one hand) and protecting individual rights and freedoms (on the other) 29 , as well as to contribute to shaping the world so that Europe's values and interests are safely taken care of 30 . Th e new security model should also improve cooperation and solidarity among the member states. ...
... A "new culture of cooperation" 35 is needed in numerous fi elds, including judicial cooperation and cooperation in the sphere of law enforcement, border control and health, social and civil protection. All that would require increasing the powers of the existing agencies 29 The report, p. 32 30 The need to overcome the structural limita ons in external security аnd a European vision of collec ve defence Analysing the current state of and the needs in the external security sector, the authors of the report fi rst focused on positive results including the fact that, over the past ten years or more, the EU had developed important instruments under the concept of the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) 40 , their practical result being the launching of 22 (observation, peacekeeping or stabilisation) missions worldwide, oft en carried out in cooperation with NATO, the UN and other international organisations. Referring to the positive results, they underlined how important the setting up of the Military Committee and the Military Staff , performing early warning and strategy planning functions, and the European Defence Agency (EDA) was. ...
It is necessary to identify the complexity, interdependence, and great importance of security integrations within the general integrative processes. The structure of institutions, their genesis, organizational resources, operation and influence on creating the common foreign security policy of the European Union are included in the analytical framework of the preparation, planning and realization of the accession negotiation process. The analysis itself contributes to the identification of entities of the common foreign and security policy, and the legitimacy of interest representation and lobbying practice in the EU provides a presumption of the positioning of the state in the field of security and strengthening its position in the pre-accession phase.
... Communication is the only means of influencing or changing a perception'. Koeppl (2001) theorized on the subject of lobbying and argued that the 'lobbying process' is mostly used to influence public decisions by people who are not directly involved in the decision-making process. ...
... Through the negotiations that take place by informal communication and lobbying (Koeppl, 2001), governments expect their target groups to internalize the purposes of an environmental policy, and this requires public assets and strategies. As part of this, the government has used formal communication and lobbying to 'convince' stakeholders to join the VA initiatives (INE, 2007c). ...
... As discussed by Koeppl (2001), successful communication processes over governmental decisionmaking require an interlocutor/promoter (or lobbyist) who has a reputation in the field and represents the interests of an interest group. In the case analyzed in this paper, this role has been taken on by industrial organizations such as IGEMI, COPARMEX, and CANACINTRA. ...
This paper provides a descriptive historical analysis of failure and success factors during the implementation phase of environmental voluntary agreements (VAs) in Mexico. Secondary source data suggest that over the past two decades, perceptions of VAs have changed, and the purpose of this paper was to identify the driving factors behind that change. The analytical framework has three components: the first one refers to prior research findings on the perceptions of the Mexican private sector. The second and third components draw on previously reported ‘successful’ characteristics in voluntary approaches. By including a range of interest groups, the authors aimed to include those aspects of communication processes described as ‘lobbying’ by several authors. A major outcome of this analysis is that the low level of ‘trust’ among actors amounted to a failure factor when implementing a VA but that, after 14 years, the level of ‘trust’ had increased resulting in a cooperative attitude among actors. Communication effectiveness had an important role in the ‘trust’ building process, leading to the conclusion that communication processes had also improved. Although this cannot be claimed as a direct result of the lobbying processes, this research has identified the influence of ‘lobbying’ in facilitating the successful implementation of a VA
... The analysis demonstrates that both experts and students represent this process in similar terms, where the main difference is the level of technicality expressed in the expert definition: while Koeppl (2001) refers to "legislative and administrative decisions", students refer to "interests" as the object to be influenced. ...
... As for MVP, students, although partially aligned with Ries (2011), seem to have a representation including very concrete purposes of MVPs: "to test", "to validate", "to get feedback from customers", where the practical finality is "to avoid wasting money". As for Lobbying, experts and students represented this process in similar terms, where the main difference is the level of technicality expressed in the expert definition: while Koeppl (2001) refers to "legislative and administrative decisions", students refer to "interests" as the object to be influenced. Finally, regarding niche market, it is possible to observe that the customer totally disappeared from students' niche market representation. ...
Education on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (I&E) has increased in the last two decades, specially, through MOOCs. Lately, these reusable online alternatives have tended to be revalorized by HEIs into blended learning activities, posing new challenges for instructors, specially, on how to bridge prior knowledge with in-class activities. Adopting a discursive approach to knowledge, our proposal aims to meet this challenge by identifying student’s ‘representations’, i.e., patterned constructions on disciplinary knowledge. Representations can be found across different cohorts and thus further complemented by instructors. To test this assumption and build our proposal, we analysed student’s representations in two observations. We mapped students’ representations over key I&E definitions (e.g., ‘start-up’) and, to know how prior knowledge may be complemented by instructors, we identified students’ alignment with expert disciplinary knowledge. Firstly, we found that the two cohorts tended to express representations by turning attention to several dimensions, e.g., referring to different types of features or finalities associated with concepts. Secondly, the disciplinary alignment description revealed that students tended to focus on the same components present in experts’ definitions, but with a greater level of generality. Our results have been packaged into a proposal that aims to help instructors scale their blended activities.
... Artinya, lobi merupakan proses mempengaruhi atau mengubah persepsi orang lain. Hal ini sesuai yang disampaikan Koeppl (2001) "lobbying is focused on the efforts to influence public authorities' decision". Lobby ...
... In the backdrop of the European Green Deal as a cornerstone of the Von der Leyen Commission, understanding such practices warrant further analysis to understand the place of the NGOs influence in such a process. In the context of this project, the definition of lobbying used is the one established by Koeppl in 2001: "lobbying is the attempted or successful influence of legislative-administrative decisions by public authorities through interested representatives. The influence is intended, implies the use of communication and is targeted on legislative or executive bodies". ...
This project tackles the research question of; what were the factors that determine the lobbying strategies pursued by Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) at a European level in the area of environmental policy? And to what extent were NGOs policy preferences achieved through engaging in these strategies?
... This finding might indicate that the interest groups were relatively convinced of their perspective on the regulatory proposal. This observation shows that the interest groups considered the lobbying an intense communication process (Koeppl, 2000). Hence, this finding relates to the role of lobbyists: they might act as information transmitters to regulators (Gros & Worret, 2016); however, they might seek to influence the regulatory outcome by providing convincing reasoning, presenting it so that the regulator will be receptive. ...
This study examines how interest groups have reacted to the suggested increase in the audit exemption thresholds in Finland. The results suggest that the lobbying opponents objected to the increase because of the benefits gained from the auditing of financial statements. Considerable reliance is placed on the audited accounts of Finnish small firms in maintaining societal functionality. Hence, the results are supported by the public interest theory. In contrast, the comment letters that supported the increase highlighted the need to follow international trends. The findings of the lobbying behaviour suggest that the interest groups collected information and strategically transferred it to the ministry with the objective of influencing the regulatory outcome. To conclude, this study contributes to a more detailed understanding of the role that the key arguments both for and against the proposed regulatory change played in the case of increasing the audit exemption thresholds. Finally, this study joins existing lobbying literature and contributes to this stream of research by shedding light on the importance of the argumentation strategies used in the Finnish case.
... Even if economic compensation for wolf damages are guaranteed, PAB, but Veneto region even more, do not have a comparable institutional organization, dealing with farmers mistrusting public institutions and the preventive methods they support. Beside this, due to their traditional value and the number of people they involve, hunting organizations play an important role in affecting political managers' choices at local (Veríssimo & Campbell, 2015) as well as continental level (Koeppl, 2001). For Bolzano Province several documents show how wolf (and large carnivores, in general) are negatively perceived by hunters, asking for culling measures, or worse, eradication (Pubblicazioni Dossier: Il lupo in Alto Adige (eurac.edu)). ...
The Eastern Alps, and in particular Trentino-Alto Adige and Veneto regions, have undergone a rapid recolonization by wolves. In less than a decade the area saw an increase in the number of packs, from one pack in 2013 to 20-25 packs in 2019. Such comeback has implied relevant consequences especially on livestock breeders’ activities, which have experienced an increase in predations by wolves. The combination of this fast recolonization process, the unreadiness of the local people and management authorities to this new and impacting presence, and the general lack of knowledge on this species has led to a significant intensification of the attention given to the wolf by the local media. In addition, the well-known political impact of the species has further contributed to exacerbating social conflicts and polarizing the debate regarding wolves. As previous studies have demonstrated, public opinion on a given issue is highly influenced by how the media decide to frame and present it, and media framing of a given issue is in turn highly influenced by the main political forces acting at the local scale. Based on these assumption, it has been conducted a content analysis of printed and online newspaper articles published between 2019 and 2020 in these two Italian regions. Specifically, it has been assessed how the wolf is framed by the local media and what the main themes and topics presented are. In particular, were analyzed the main news elements, which are the ones that have the highest impact on the reader, that is the title, subtitle and images. Successively, it has been given a score to each element based on the attitude towards wolves, with three possible scores: positive, neutral and negative. Further detailed information from each news, such as the main topic of the news and other mentioned topics, have been collected within a database. Moreover, it has been assessed the presence and prevalence of beliefs, judgements and misconceptions about wolves. The information extracted allowed to make comparisons about the type of media framing between the two regions (Veneto and Trentino-Alto Adige) and also between the Provinces of Trento and Bolzano, as well as between Italian and German language newspapers in Alto Adige. This study provides a further comparison based on media framing among different newspapers. Results eventually offered an overview of the current media framing situation on the wolf in the area, and highlighted possible opportunities to improve connections and information sharing between wolf experts and journalists to promote a more objective and correct information on the Large Carnivore.
... Artinya, lobi merupakan proses mempengaruhi atau mengubah persepsi orang lain. Hal ini sesuai yang disampaikan Koeppl (2001) "lobbying is focused on the efforts to influence public authorities' decision" (p.70). ...
Lobby and negotiation in the legislation process need strategies to plan, persuade and advocate stakeholders to reach an agreement. This article aims to describe the strategies of lobby and negotiation in thelegislation process of the People’s Representative Council, particularly antiterrorism law. The antiterrorism law had been revised from the Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 15 of 2003 concerning the change of the Government Regulation in Lieu of Law Number 1 of 2002 amending the Anti-Terrorism Act. The legislation process of antiterrorism law revision took two years and involved public debates on the pro cons issues. Qualitative data was collected by an in-depth interview from three informants. Based on thematicanalysis, three strategies of lobbying and negotiating was found; (1) compromising, (2) brainstorming, and (3) convincing. These strategies were used in the different pro cons issues in the legislation process. Moreover, the strategies succeed to drive the agreement on the antiterrorism law enactment.
... In fact, almost all ministries believe that consultations with CSOs would be useful to ensure the formulation of well-considered national positions (MZZ, Directorate for EU Affairs, 2015). Similarly, officials at the European Commission agreed that it is important to include civil society and thus maintain a relationship with them in order to receive specific and technical information (Koeppl, 2001). Despite the need for information, especially from experts in the field, consultations at ministries are not a regular practice when it comes to EU affairs. ...
This article considers the EU policymaking process from the national perspective, emphasizing the involvement of civil society organizations (CSOs) in the process of formulating national positions prior to negotiations in the Council of the EU. Its scope is limited to the stagist model of policy analysis, focusing on the policy formulation stage and 20 of the most salient EU legislative proposals on the EU agenda between 2008 and 2010. It is argued that Slovenia seems to neglect the expertise and information held by CSOs during the process of forming national positions. The current system for coordinating EU affairs anticipates only a narrow role for CSOs. The national position is typically formed at a lower bureaucratic level and based on the European Commission’s proposal. While national officials recognize the benefits of including CSOs in the whole process, they are afraid of greater work, more bureaucratic processes, and corruption
... Pada tahun 1960, Lester Milbrath yang disebut sebagai bapak penelitian lobi, menganalisis lobi dari perspektif komunikasi (Berg, 2009;Koeppl, 2000). Menurut Milbrath (1960), komunikasi menjadi satu-satunya cara untuk memengaruhi atau mengubah persepsi. ...
Lobi dan negosiasi sebagai kegiatan komunikasi sampai saat ini masih dianggap memiliki asosiasi yang negatif. Padahal, dua kegiatan tersebut dapat berdampak positif misalnya membantu legislator meyakinkan pemangku kepentingan untuk mengesahkan Rancangan Undang-Undang (RUU) yang bermanfaat bagi masyarakat luas. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk memahami praktik dan lobi yang dilakukan anggota legislatif kepada pemangku kepentingan dalam proses pembahasan RUU Konsultan Pajak. Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif, strategi penelitian studi kasus, dan pengumpulan data berupa wawancara terstruktur dan dokumentasi. Data penelitian dianalisis menggunakan analisis tematik dan triangulasi penelitian berupa triangulasi teori dan data. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa dalam melakukan praktik lobi dan negosiasi, legislator sebagai komunikator politik menempatkan posisi sebagai politisi partisan. Lima area dasar kegiatan lobi yang dilakukan yaitu menjalin koalisi dengan organisasi berpengaruh di luar DPR, melakukan riset dan laporan, menjalin komunikasi dengan individu di dalam parlemen, memilih pembicara dan saksi ahli, serta melakukan persiapan debat. Sementara, bentuk kegiatan komunikasi dalam proses negosiasi yaitu mengonstruksi narasi, menetapkan strategi negosiasi, dan mengelola hubungan dengan konstituen. Meskipun proses lobi dan negosiasi menemui gangguan, legislator ternyata berhasil meyakinkan para pemangku kepentingan untuk menyetujui RUU Konsultan Pajak masuk dalam daftar Prolegnas Prioritas tahun 2018
... This insight was entirely novel, fundamentally shifting our understanding of lobbying and interest groups. Kurt Wise (2007: 359) describes this as 'the first scholarly attempt to define [lobbying]', and many authors continue to draw on it (Baines and Viney, 2010;Koeppl, 2001;McGrath, 2005McGrath, , 2007. David Austen-Smith and John Wright (1994: 26), for instance, acknowledge that Milbrath's communication model has been 'one of the dominant approaches to understanding lobbying'. ...
... Firstly, research in a wide array of policy domains has shown that the European Commission is not at all immune to interest group lobbying (e.g. Bernhagen et al. 2015;Bouwen 2002;Koeppl 2001). As mentioned in the introduction, the resources of the Commission are limited, which means it relies heavily on business groups for specialized expertise and insights. ...
News reports often talk about the political influence that major corporations and industry groups have on EU trade policy decisions. But exactly what role do business actors play in EU trade policy-making? And why do EU policy-makers listen to the demands of firms and their lobby groups? This chapter tries to answer these questions by identifying the type of firms involved in EU trade politics, analysing their political strategies and influence, as well as detailing the institutional setting in which EU trade policy-making takes place. In doing so, this chapter provides a detailed account of business-government relations in current EU trade politics and how these dynamics have changed over time.
... This insight was entirely novel, fundamentally shifting our understanding of lobbying and interest groups. Kurt Wise (2007: 359) describes this as 'the first scholarly attempt to define [lobbying]', and many authors continue to draw on it (Baines and Viney, 2010;Koeppl, 2001;McGrath, 2005McGrath, , 2007. David Austen-Smith and John Wright (1994: 26), for instance, acknowledge that Milbrath's communication model has been 'one of the dominant approaches to understanding lobbying'. ...
Published in 1963, Lester Milbrath’s The Washington Lobbyists has become indispensable for understanding how lobbying operates and the societal benefits it brings. Milbrath there presented the first detailed survey of lobbying activities, and his findings have been generally affirmed by a range of later studies, although his conviction that lobbying was an essentially benign force which exerted relatively little impact on policy has been more contested. Milbrath’s theoretical model of lobbying as a communication process has enduring value to scholars and practitioners alike, and the definition of lobbying which he formulated continues to be useful. This article seeks explicitly to celebrate Milbrath’s outstanding research on lobbyists, more than 50 years after his book was published, and highlights some elements of Milbrath’s work which have not yet been fully explored by scholars.
... [12] Anastasiadis, S.,.Understanding corporate lobbying on its own terms", International Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility, Nottingham University Business School, Nottingham University, (2006): 12. [13] Anastasiadis, S., 14. [14] Levine, S., White, P.E., "Exchange as a Conceptual Framework for the Stady of Interorganizational Relation ship",Administartive Science Quartely,no.5, (1961): 583-601. odnosno, uslovljenosti od resursa, podrazumeva da organizacija ima nezavistan nastup uslovljen postojanjem potrebnih resursa 15 . Ključni zaključak vodi ka tome da organizacija gubi svoju samostalnost, jer je uslovljena organizacijom koja raspolaže resursima. ...
Integrative processes in transitional societies, have complex, dynamic and traumatic concept and affect all spheres of society. Active and target oriented positioning of state and corporate entities are the content of communications strategies, tactics and tools necessary to properly positioning the organization in an international environment. Activities at the national, over-national and international level of interests’ representatives are aimed to enable the organization, adequately positioned in the international environment, particularly in the phase of integration. In the essence the integration process has generator characteristics for all social entities, government, NGO sector, corporations, small and medium enterprises. Whether the goal of positioning is the development of adequate institutions or penetration on a new markets, it is necessary for development of aim-oriented and project approach of targeting direction of organizations energy, the adequate representation of interests in the international environment and realizing the impact on the structure and decision makers in international organizations. Trough this activities, organization is able to achieve the preconditions for the implementation of support for pre-accession process, stable transition, with sustainable development, reduces social trauma and allows representation of institutions in the international environment.
... . Lobbying as strategic communicationLobbying as communication strategy, from the point of view of influence that is aimed to be reached, could be analyzed by the position ofKoeppl (2001), where the ''lobbying is the attempt or successful influence of legislative-administrative decisions by public authorities through interested representatives. The influence is intended, implies the use of communication and is targeted on legislative or executive body'' (p. ...
It is noticeable that interpretation of strategy, strategy communication and lobbying phenomena, in colloquial as well as scholars arguing, usually are put in same connotation level. This perspective was inspiring for author to rise following questions: Which characteristics of strategy are in correlation with communication, if we name it "strategy", and does it lobbying really means strategy communication? In this paper author attempts to offer argumentation based on analysis of previous hypothetical questions. In process of clarifications, author is leaning on literature analysis (research and book publications), as well as practical experience. Main approach of research methodology includes comparison and modeling as the main methods, as well as usage of specific methodology attitudes: description, context analysis, analysis-synthesis and induction-deduction. Results are aimed to clarify hypotheses that lobbying is strategically organized communication. Further more, the research shows that lobbying is a complex, high level, strategic organized activity, and by this conclusions, it should be strategic planned and managed. As support of conclusion, it is given analyses of STAP modeling for the management of lobbying operational strategies. This model offers approach to design of lobbying strategy, which is applicable for various organizational entities. This model could be practical value for all kinds of organization, especially those who have interest to achieve organizational benefits through the realization of strategy organized lobbying activities.
... The strategic use of language and the manipulation of symbolic power have been identified as a fundamental component in public affairs practice, where practitioners compete with each other using techniques such as framing and storytelling in attempts to establish regimes of accepted truths (Somerville, 2011) and lobbying is particularly reliant on rhetorical traditions to pursue persuasive advocacy campaigns (Tusinski Berg, 2009). Koeppl (2001) has portrayed lobbying groups as members of rhetorical communities and De Lange and Linders (2006) have described how practitioners associate themselves with symbols and networks of power in order to build their reputations while McGrath (2007) has endorsed the value of research that explores that use and role of language in lobbying work. Davidson has extended Harris and Moss' (2001) conceptualisation so that it incorporates the discursive dimension by defining public affairs as 'the management of relationships and the building of discursive communities across a broad range of stakeholder networks in order to create, re-create, or replace shared interpretations of reality on any issue that may have policy implications' (Davidson, 2014). ...
In the context of public concern and negative media portrayals in regard to the civic impact of the public relations specialism of public affairs and lobbying, this article seeks to theorise normative roles in democracies alongside benchmarking the self-perception of practitioners against those of opinion forming elites. The article also explores how practitioners interpret their roles and locates a consensus in regard to their functional and civic contributions. A potential research agenda for testing the validity of these claims of a positive civic contribution is discussed. The article analyses the results of quantitative surveys of a representative sample of British members of parliament, and 722 UK opinion formers, plus 260 interviews with opinion formers in Washington DC. The results were complemented by a Delphi survey of UK public affairs practitioners that sought to identify and test areas of consensus in regard to both organisational and civic functions. The research finds that lobbying is perceived as legitimate by elites, but there are concerns over the quality of the information subsidy that is provided. Practitioners share an understanding with the public relations literature of their functional roles, and believe they make a social contribution by assisting policy-making, connecting society to politicians and as facilitators of participation and civic dialogue. This research will potentially be less applicable to the relationship between public affairs and society in other regions of the world, or in authoritarian states with low levels of interest group pluralism.
... The author affirms that the lobbying procedure is to influence or attempt to influence legislative administrative decisions by public authorities through representatives interested. Influence is intentional, involves the use of communication and is directed by legislative or executive structures (Koeppl, 2001, p.71). ...
Many papal encyclicals were not directly concerned about the appearance of European Union due to many historical, political and social contexts. The fundamental principles developed through several encyclicals from early 19th century to the present day reaffirmed the neutrality of the Church regarding to many forms of government. But the most important idea has its root in the restoration of the Christian principles in society. In a time of de-Christianization and secularism, the role of Church as the foundation of peace is also important to notice. It was considered that every modern democracy is the image of the revealed heart of the universal law of charity (Jacques Maritain). That is why between a supranational entity like the European Union and the Catholic Church should be a friendly and close relationship. A unite Europe has its roots in Christianity, especially in Catholicism. The soul of Europe is animated by religious principles. Whether we talk about Schuman or Adenauer, their Christian faith is the engine for their political success. After the Second World War, in Western Europe, the Christian democratic parties had a huge impact for the democratic governance. The socio-economic policies of these parties were anchored in Catholic social teaching.
... Moreover, the data came from the supply side of the equation and it would be interesting to compare in future studies the responses of the Commission and EP officials. For example,Koeppl (2000), in a survey of 373 heads of Commission units, observed that 65.7 per cent of functionaries believed that lobbyists were necessary for policy-making. ...
The volume offers an analysis of large N empirical studies of interest groups in Europe. It calls for a shift from exploratory or descriptive interest studies to more confirmatory theory testing. Recognizing the continued European economic integration, globalization and the changing role of the state, we observed significant adaptations in interest mobilization and strategic behaviour. The various papers assess the logic of collective and direct action, the logic of access and influence, the logic of venue shopping and alliance building. Specifically, the volume notes the emergence of elite pluralism in EU institutions, the pump priming of political action by EU institutions, and the growing political sophistication of private and public interests in a complex multi-level venue environment.
... The public relations literature seems to be divided on relationships between public relations as a whole practice, government relations or public affairs as that part of public relations that deals with political stakeholders, and lobbying. For some, lobbying is a public affairs technique 4 (e.g., Fleisher, 2005;Koeppl, 2001). Showalter and Fleisher (2005) list lobbying as a technique in par with grassroots lobbying, electoral techniques, public policy environmental monitoring, research and scanning, political action committees, judicial influence techniques, corporate or issue advertising, web activism, coalitions in corporate community relations, investment, and voluntarism. ...
... (Getz, 1997). Outside the described "ruling" paradigm, researchers have studied influencing strategies in the European Union (Bennett, 1999;Hadjikhani, 2000;Koeppel, 2001), national regulation effects and processes (Alt et al., 1999;Berrefjord & Heum, 1993;Maijoor & van Witteloostuijn, 1996;Paterson, 1991;Rugman & Verbeke, 2000), and the evolution of national pressure organizations (Lamberg, 1998;Mitchell, 1990;van Waarden, 1992). Yet the discussion has become diluted among the various disciplines and publication channels, thereby preventing such progressive theoretical development as has occurred among the network of CPA studies in management literature (Skippari et al., 2003). ...
Variance theories have dominated corporate political action (CPA) research because the pioneering works in the 1970s and 1980s. Process theories offer an entirely new perspective on CPA research, as they are able to explain processes across a number of levels of analysis and link actions to contexts. We add to the existing CPA literature by offering a process model that can be useful especially in historical and evolutionary analysis. Our model depicts CPA as a complex system in which a firm’s actions are affected by various factors across organizational, industry, and institutional levels of analysis. As political actions also influence these factors, the process is in essence systemic and path dependent. Our model supplements existing research by offering the possibility to explain the long-term consequences of CPA vis-à-vis wider societal changes and by promoting longitudinal research strategies. In addition to the theoretical model, we provide a historical analysis of the evolution of the Finnish paper and pulp industry to illustrate the applicability of the framework.
... 24) The Woodstock Theological Center, a non-profit research institute at Georgetown University, defines lobbying as " the deliberate attempt to influence political decisions through various forms of advocacy directed at policymakers on behalf of another person, organization, or group " (Arroyo, Connor, Gardner, Lacovar, & McCarthy, 2002, p. 82). In 1960 Milbrath, the so-called " father of lobbying research, " first analyzed lobbying from a communication perspective (Koeppl, 2000). Milbrath (1960) claims, " Communication is the only means of influencing or changing a perception; the lobbying process, therefore, is totally a communication process " (p. ...
This study begins to connect our understanding of lobbying and public
relations as communication activities. A survey of 222 registered lobbyists in
Oregon reveals the range of communication activities in which they are engaged,
as well as the range of organizations on whose behalf they lobby, and their
description of their occupational role. Findings suggest that many lobbyists, like
many public relations professionals, do think about their role as a form of
advocacy. I then conclude by noting some of the contradictions and limitations of
using the term advocacy as a way of describing the communication activities.
Purpose
This paper develops a typology of argumentation strategies used in lobbying. Unlike in other strategic communication functions such as crisis or risk communication, such typologies have not been proposed in the sub-field of public affairs.
Design/methodology/approach
The article synthesises the strategic communication, political communication and policy studies literature and employs exchange theory to explain the communicative-strategic exchange in public affairs. It showcases its explanatory potential with illustrative examples from Big Tech lobbying.
Findings
The paper describes that categories of argumentation strategies that a public affairs professional will choose are based on the contingency of the issue, policy objective and lobbying objective. The descriptive typology will require empirical testing to develop further.
Social implications
The paper describes how public affairs professionals influence public policy through their argumentation strategies, which sheds light on the usually opaque activities of lobbying.
Originality/value
The proposed typology is the first of its kind for the field of public affairs. Beyond, it contributes communication-scientific insights from a rhetorical tradition to strategic communication research and other social science fields where lobbying is studied, e.g. policy studies.
Diese Studie vergleicht die Wahrnehmung von und Einstellung gegenüber Lobbying von heute, sprich 2022, mit Daten von 2011. Sie erhebt, wie Lobbying auf nationaler Ebene heutzutage betrieben wird und welche Taktiken angewendet werden. Die Eigenwahrnehmung von Lobbyierenden wird durch die Aussenwahrnehmung von Adressat:innen von Lobbying sowie der Bevölkerung ergänzt. Zudem wird die Mobilisierung der Bevölkerung beim Lobbying beleuchtet. Zu diesem Zweck fliessen 354 Interviews mit Lobbyierenden, 54 Interviews mit Belobbyierten und 1000 Interviews mit Stimmberechtigten in die Analyse ein. Ein besonderer Fokus dieser Studie liegt auf der Rolle von Verbänden, dem Grassroots-Lobbying sowie dem Einfluss der Digitalisierung.
The aim of the article is a review of the wide spectrum of lobbying formulations and definitions to answer questions regarding the areas of lobbying activity. The author argues that lobbying is a wide scope of activities that lobbyists undertake according to their expectations and preferences. Ethical reflections on lobbying activity should then take into consideration the conditions in which the main players on the democratic political scene interact with each other.
Lobbyistinnen und Lobbyisten sind mit hohen ethischen Anforderungen konfrontiert, weil sie in einem Umfeld arbeiten, das von Wertkonflikten, Intransparenz und Ungleichheit gekennzeichnet ist. Der Beitrag zeigt entlang der Elemente des Verantwortungsurteils auf, welche moralischen Probleme im Lobbyismus bestehen und wie ausgewählte ethische Ansätze diese adressieren. Während prinzipienorientierte Ansätze Ethikkodizes empfehlen, fordern diskursethische Perspektiven Dialogbereitschaft und die Übernahme gesellschaftlicher Verantwortung durch Lobbyisten ein. Postmoderne Ansätze appellieren an ein individuelles und situativ begründetes Verantwortungsbewusstsein.
Irreführende Kampagnen, tendenziöse Studien, Frontorganisationen und Medienkooperationen – Public Affairs und Lobbying sind trotz geltender Ethikkodizes mit einigen moralischen Problemen konfrontiert. Ungleich verteilte Chancen auf Interessenvertretung, die Vernetzung von Interessenorganisationen und Dynamiken der Online-Kommunikation führen zu weiteren Herausforderungen. Dieser Beitrag stellt Formen der Selbstregulierung vor und ethische Ansätze dazu, wie moralische Entscheidungen anhand verpflichtender Prinzipien, durch Diskurse oder situative Abwägung getroffen werden können.
Մեկնաբանելով տնտեսության իրական և ֆինանսական հատվածների փոխկապերի և խզվածության հիմնական վարկածները՝ ներկայացվում են այդ հատվածների զարգացման և կայունության պայմանները: Տնտեսության նշված հատվածներում մրցակցության խթանումը, ապրանքների և ծառայությունների մրցունակության, ներքին ու արտաքին ցնցումների նկատմամբ ֆինանսական հատվածի դիմացկունության բարձրացումը, ֆինանսական հատվածում պետական-մասնավոր գործընկերության զարգացումը հնարավորություն կտան մեղմել տնտեսության իրական և ֆինանսական հատվածների խզումը:
Комментируя основные гипотезы взаимосвязи и разрыва в реальном и финансовом секторах экономики, авторы представляют некоторые условия для развития и стабильности обсуждаемых сфер. Стимулирование конкуренции в реальном и финансовом секторах экономики, повышение конкурентоспособности производимых товаров и усточивости финансового сектора к внутренним и внешним шокам, развитие государственно-частного партнерства в финансовом секторе дадут возможность смягчить разрыв реального и финансового секторов экономики.
The authors present the conditions for the development and sustainability of the discussed spheres by specifying the main hypotheses of the relationship and the possibility of disruption between the real and financial sectors of the economy. The promotion of competitiveness in the real and financial sectors of the economy, the competitiveness of the produced products and services, financial sector's resistance to internal and external shocks, the development of public-private partnerships in the financial sector and other measures will enable to overcome or at least mitigate the disruption between the real and financial sectors of economy.
Since its creation, the European Union grew to become a sui generis entity often compared to international organizations and federal states. For over 68 years the Europeanization idea grew through the integration process and the whole European “structure” kept introducing new institutions through its primary law: the European treaties.
It is important to understand that the European Union runs as any other state its own administrative levels of public administration. Thus, the study of the European administrative framework, compared to the legal aspects of the European public administration, is very popular among others these days.
In this context, we would like to focus our research on the legal administrative framework and its procedures regarding the appointment of senior officials in the European Union. We would like to focus on this aspect, as the European Union is often criticized about democratic deficit and non-transparent methods of decision-making. We would like to have a research on this topic to examine the internal methods of the European institutions of appointing unelected officials to carry out the European mission.
Furthermore, we will examine the case of the “fast-track promotion” of Martin Selmayr as Secretary General of the European Commission, the highest post in the European civil service, as it grew to be a scandal regarding his previous position as chief of staff to President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Junker.
As explained before, the importance of my thesis is to examine the European Union’s methods of appointing senior officials and whether these practices comply with the legal framework of the Union and occur in respective and transparent practices.
Our research method will be mostly information collection and analysis from articles, books, legal texts and online sources, and we will try to conduct our research in order to present the data collected in the most suitable manner to examine the concerns of this thesis.
This thesis is part of the post-graduate program in International Public Administration of the University of Macedonia.
This chapter looks into the unprecedented increase in the number of interest organizations during the accession process to the European Union dating from the early 1990s up to 2004. We argue that faced with the competitive pluralistic and multilevel governance of the EU, interest groups in CEE countries went through a ‘crash course’ in lobbying professionalization. We look into different forms of engagement in the European policy process, both at the European and national levels, analyzing the existing institutional framework for consultations in European policy-making, the stakeholders approached, the expenditures of organizations, and their membership of umbrella organizations. The comparative analysis allows us to elaborate on similarities and differences between the old and new Members States of the European Union.
Even though loyalty has a certain aspirational quality, it nevertheless carries legal consequences. Mostly, the duty of loyalty is expressed in reflexive and justificatory exercises. Fiduciary loyalty requires reflection on the motives and interests at play in adopting delegated and implementing acts.
This paper explores the potential for “environmental” (green) and “social” (red) European NGOs and trade unions to jointly mobilize, pursuing synergies between ecological/environmental and social goals, as well as to drive bottom-up policy change at the European Union level. The main research question is thus the following: do European NGOs and trade unions conflict or cooperate on ‘eco-social’ challenges? To answer such question, the research focuses on the case of the ‘Right to Energy for All Europeans’ coalition. The coalition is an advocacy-oriented alliance of European social and green NGOs, as well as trade unions, aimed at eradicating energy poverty in Europe, mostly by exerting influence EU’ institutions concerning the “Clean Energy for All Europeans” legislative package. From a methodological point of view, we rely on literature review and qualitative research methods, notably document analysis complemented by several semi-structured interviews with the members of the Coalition. We draw two main conclusions. First, bottom-up coordination is undermined by structural constraints (such as limited resources and compartmentalized policymaking), as well as by interest groups’ commitment to specific and potentially divergent interests. Indeed, coalition-building is always a strategic move and it is more likely to take the form of ad-hoc cooperation, than formalized coordination. Nevertheless, European green and social NGOs and trade unions display a cooperative attitude towards each other. This is coherent with our second finding, according to which these organizations have an incentive to cooperate, since they frequently endorse a ‘just transition’ paradigm. Contrasting both powerful economic interests and the approach followed by European institutions, NGOs and trade unions are promoting a vision for Europe where social and environmental goals are harmoniously combined. Green-red alliances can thus be seen as bottom-up actions aimed to effectively mainstream ‘just transition’ into policy demands and political strategies, hence giving their members an incentive to join.
This study examines how the media and journalists are used in lobbying processes. To explore the topic a systematic review of the literature in peer-reviewed journals published between January 2000 to June 2018 was undertaken. The findings of this paper indicate that lobbyists and interest groups engage with a plethora of various strategies and systematic methods when influencing or trying to advocate the work of journalists and media organisations. The findings shed the mystery of lobbyists and interest group’s communicative attempts. This study increases the knowledge of the relationships between journalists and lobbyists in lobbying processes. Based on the literature review, the paper presents a categorised model of media influencing strategies in lobbying process.
Litigation Communication, as will be argued, is about managing public perceptions of the institutional or individual clients in a long and devastating litigation process consists of different stages. There are special sensitivities, dynamics and knowledge involved in communicating publicly during a legal dispute. In this chapter, these theoretical considerations will be introduced in general and through the illustrative example of England.
Each country chapter of this volume provides an overview of the national lobbying industry, taking into consideration also institutional, historical and cultural variables, and placing the analysis of lobbying and public affairs into a wider picture. A short overview of the country’s political system is given, illustrating the institutional structure, the party system or the weight of particular political actors. In order to describe the features of the lobbying industry in the country, various pieces of information are considered, such as the regulatory framework (and relative ‘flaws’), the number of professionals working in the sector, the presence of specific educational pathways (master’s degrees or courses), the presence of professional associations and, if any, of deontological charters or self-disciplinary measures. Overall, an assessment on the degree of professionalisation and development of the industry is formulated, addressing also the perception of lobbyists by the public opinion and the influence of the EU supranational level on the national environment, imagining future scenarios and trends.
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Despite its long history and key role in the development of public policy, serving the needs of virtually every sector of society, lobbying is an underdeveloped area of academic research. This study aims to establish an understanding of lobbying at the federal level in Canada and its synergies with communications and public relations. Through a review of existing scholarly research, as well as in-depth interviews with 15 federally-registered lobbyists, five senior communications executives, and a survey of GR practitioners, this paper reveals that lobbying is very much aligned with public relations, especially as the online and social media landscapes continue to grow and evolve. It concludes that integration between the two fields is necessary, if not inevitable, and that greater public relations, marketing and social media expertise should be leveraged to position the government relations practice for a future that embraces the new digital rules of engagement. </p
This article suggests that lobbying has a functional utility within modern polyarchies. British lobbying is best seen as typically attempting to modify public policy in specialist policy debates through persuasion and information. Various types of lobbyist are discussed. The article also addresses the development of professional persuasion. Arguably the press coverage of controversies shows the 'corruption of lobbying' rather than that lobbying is inherently corrupt. Moreover, the content of lobbying is investigated. Ivory Tower and Insider Politics are two broad benchmarks against which lobbying may be judged. By the first benchmark lobbying is some dangerous distortion of democracy, but in the second it becomes de facto a contribution to a sort of ersatz democracy. It is noted that lobbying is less controversial in the UK political system if the processes are accepted as being based on a search for consensus by policy-makers.
Since the mid-2000s a need for well-educated public affairs professionals emerged in Austria. In 2006, the University of Vienna established a postgraduate Master of Arts program with an specialization in public affairs. The extra-occupational program runs for four semesters with a workload of 120 ECTS-points. The program consists not of practical training only, but is founded upon a theoretical framework. It successfully integrates real world, experiential, learning into higher education. To graduate students have to write a master thesis and pass a final examination.
On September 1, 2012, the final phase of the European legislation banning the incandescent light bulbs came into effect in the EU. However, the ban has encountered criticisms. Consumers have not internalised the benefits of replacing the classic bulbs. People opposed to the ban deplore government interference with free market. In dimming the classic light bulbs, the EU has been accused of keeping people in the dark during the consultation process and has not been forthright with the public and the Parliament concerning the validity of the data. One of the main questions this author wants to explore is the issue of whether the policy intervention has produced welfare benefits and innovation. Was the intervention justified? What type of discontinuance problems arose after the ban? These are questions that will be explored in this paper and are intended to understand the dynamic effects of policy intervention in energy efficiency.
Public affairs and lobbying is a high status and strategically vital public relations specialism. It is a field of PR practice that generates high levels of both scholarly and public concern in regard to its perceived role in supporting corporate power and the associated impact on the functional legitimacy of democratic institutions. For this paper a content analysis was conducted of academic journals (between 2000 and 2013) to provide insights into how public affairs and lobbying have been theorised and researched within public relations scholarship and to ascertain to what degree wider public concerns have been addressed. Findings include an empirical confirmation of the low level of research activity on public affairs; that stakeholder and rhetorical theories have been the most widely used theories, but are far from constituting dominant paradigms; that scholarship has privileged functional objectives over civic concerns; and that published work originates almost entirely from institutions in Europe and the US with the Global South invisible. The paper also discusses future directions for research in public affairs and advocates the placing of discourse into definitions of public affairs, and that academic public relations should assert responsibility for this field, but in a manner that more equitably balances organisational and societal concerns.
Following almost five decades of federal coalition government between Social Democrats and People's Party alongside an interest mediation system that gave exclusivity to only a few institutions, from 2000 to 2006, Austria underwent a rapid transformation in the direction of a pluralistic free-market interest mediation system. However, this short but intense interlude, which led to the development and establishment of professional public affairs in Austria, was stopped short by the return of the traditional Austrian interest mediation system. Following a series of so-called lobbying scandals, in 2013, Austria introduced a mandatory lobbying and interest representation register at the federal level. Two years earlier, the industry formed its own trade association, the Austrian Public Affairs Association. A study commissioned by this association has for the first time shed light on the young public affairs industry, its actors, and the working environment. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This account is offered in the hopes that in some small way it may contribute to the academic literature of Law, Socio-legal Studies and Communications into Crisis and Reputation Management in the legal process.
As a communications and socio-legal scholar, the author intends to explore the evolution of a particular Communications Management practice in the legal process. This book has been an objective and subjective intellectual journey through time and jurisdictions, respectively. This brief journey, a comprehensive analysis and detailed historical narrative, expands on examples of enactment practices of states and jurisdictions that support, challenge or even reject Communications Management during pending litigations, in the legal process.
Content Level: Research
Keywords: Crisis Management - Legal and Litigation Communications - Public Relations - Reputation Management
▶ Insight into the collaboration of legal and communication experts ▶ Introduction of an adaptive business and legal culture, contending litigant parties, high-profile clients ▶ Explores key historical processes, important legal reforms, significant legal cases and personalities.
This article focuses on the decision-making processes surrounding the implementation of Bill 25, Quebec's Act Respecting Local Health and Social Services Network Development Agencies. Our intention is to shed light on the strategies of the various groups or institutions that expressed their preferences and attempted, with varying degrees of success, to influence decisions with respect to this major reform of the Quebec health system structure. On a theoretical level, we are relying mostly on the models for analysing the lobbying process, which, since the seminal work of Milbrath (1960, 1963), have essentially presented this practice as a process for exchanging information. Based on the information gathered in the re-transcribed interviews, the strategies observed are actually in line with the constitutive characteristics of lobbying and, in some situations, those of patronage. Ultimately, the combination of these various elements makes it obvious that the implementation of Bill 25 was, first and foremost, a clearly political process. The technical arguments on which the initial objectives of the act were centred have thereby been relegated to the backstage.
Do the observable preferences and behavior of economic actors correspond to microeconomic models? I address this question by examining the microfoundations of firms' exchange rate preferences and lobbying activity between 1960 and 2008 in Germany, one of the most internationally exposed and export-oriented economies. The phenomena to be explained are twofold. First, lobbying activity appears to have declined over time. Archival sources provide evidence of strong preference articulation and exchange rate lobbying during the 1960s and 1970s. In recent years, by contrast, the intensity of firms' lobbying activity has gone down, despite greater exchange rate fluctuations and currency appreciations, which are costly and potentially ruinous for producers of tradable goods. Second, there is substantial variation in the propensity of tradables producers to lobby over exchange rate levels. I argue that the extent of firms' internationalization is key for explaining both of these observations and the political economy of exchange rate preferences and lobbying more generally. Firms and sectors with a low degree of ‘operational hedging’ or diversification across different currency areas are much more likely to have preferences for a low exchange rate and to lobby over exchange rate levels than their more diversified counterparts. As globalization proceeds apace, we may be moving towards a world in which ‘no preference’ is the stable equilibrium.
Republication of a chapter in the Handbook of Administrative Communication, which is included as a full-text copy.
Nuffield European Studies Series editors: Joachim Jens Hesse and Vincent Wright This series provides students and teachers in the social sciences and related disciplines with interdisciplinary and comparative works dealing with significant political, economic, legal, and social problems confronting European nation-states and the European Community. It will comprise both research monographs and the edited proceedings of conferences organized by the Centre for European Studies at Nuffield College, Oxford. The role of interest groups in the formulation of EC policy is a central aspect of the development of the European Community. This book is unique in providing both an academic analysis of the system and an insider's view of how lobbying actually works. The first part examines the consequences of the increasing transference of power to Brussels in terms of the EC policy process, the activities of the Commission of the EC as an `adolescent' bureaucracy, and the behaviour of interest associations at national and European level. Subsequent chapters look in detail at the wide range of interest groups involved in lobbying, including business, industry, the financial sector, and voluntary organizations. The combination of contributions from academic specialists and practitioners, including Commission officials and interest group leaders, will make this book uniquely interesting as a study of a key area of the evolving European policy process. Contributors: Lynn Collie, Martin Donnelly, Dick Eberlie, Wyn Grant, Brian Harvey, Robert Hull, Grant Jordan, Jeffrey Knight, Andrew McLaughlin, James Mitchell, Jean-Pierre Peckstadt, Jane Sargent.
There is increasing interest in the possibility of developing abstract models for legislative processes and the activities
of interest groups seeking to influence legislation. Here is an analysis of lobbying by means of a communication model. Data
on the tactics used by lobbyists to communicate with governmental decision makers were obtained in a study of the Washington
lobbyist begun when the author was a Research Fellow at The Brookings In
stitution.
Interessengruppen in der Demokratie
- K. Beyme
Effective Lobbying in the European Community
- P. Cecchini
- J. N. Gardner
National Public and Private Lobbying
- M. Schendelen
Lobbying in a Modern Democracy’ report prepared for the Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations of the Committee of Governmental Affairs United States Senate by the Congressional Research Service Library of Congress
- Pressure Congress
- Groups