Lobbyism and Policy-making Flashcards
What is lobbying?
The act of lawfully trying to influence the actions, policies or decisions made by government officials, like legislators or members of regulatory agencies
What is an interest group?
A community within a larger organisation who have a shared interest and try to influence public opinion and / or policy using advocacy.
What is the difference between public and private interest groups?
Public interest groups aim to improve the public good.
Private interest groups seek just to profit themselves.
What is the idea of Republican (unitarist) tradition (Rousseau)?
Interest groups or assertions - danger to democracy
Believes there only to be one interest of the whole organisation
What is the idea of Liberal (pluralist) tradition (Tocueville, Dahl)?
Interest groups / associations are a source of liberty
There is freedom of association
More than just one common interest
What is some criticism of Republican (unitarist) tradition?
There might be a situation in which a group of people are treated unfairly because their situation is different from the situation of most of the people in a democratic country
The question is whether we want to keep these people out?
What is some criticism of Liberal (pluralist) tradition?
You encourage mobilisation (go against the state)?
There might be unequal representation
What is the idea of Neo-pluralism
Here the society consist of multiple people, groups or entities who share political power, e.g. people with a different cultural background keep their own traditions
Just mobilise enough people
Free competition → no one wins more on average
Specificities of context and issues become central
What is the idea of Corporatist tradition?
Focus on labor and capital organisations
Highly institutionalised
What is the modern take on politics and institutions?
Decision-makers have limited resources and are imperfectly informed.
No time and money to gather relevant information.
Firms, unions and business groups have information that decision-makers cannot obtain.
This means lobbying becomes necessary.
What is the idea of the collective action problem by Olson?
All members of a group can benefit from the efforts of each member and all can benefit substantially from collective action. This can result in some actors free-riding thereby benefiting from others contribution.
What is a political science question that could be asked in regards to the free-rider problem?
What explains the existence of large-scale political participation, despite the incentives that favor free riding?
How can we overcome free-riding?
Add direct benefits to mobilising/joining
- Exclude non-members from policy-wins
- Benefits exclusively for members
- Special treatment of important members
Punish defection
- E.g. social sanctioning during strikes
Social convention and cost
- Union membership (e.g.) varies by country in unexpected ways.
- Articulation of collective identifies
- Probably a cultural element (can be thought of as a cost/benefits)
What is the two factors in Erne’s strategy to distinguish groups
- Ability to shape ‘political facts’
- Necessity collective action for influence
→ ‘Structural power’
What does success depend on in direct or inside lobbying?
- Resources (money, legitimacy and expertise)
- Accessibility
- Nature of the issue
