Political Advocacy, Lobbying, and the Influence Production Process

Input from different social and economic groups, including non-governmental organisations (NGOs), labour unions, associations of professionals, business associations and individual firms, is a vital ingredient in the policy process. Throughout the entire policy cycle, different types of interest organisations share information with political gatekeepers, frame their positions, and/or try to mobilise their members or the broader public for a given cause. In this way, they might – individually or collectively – exert influence on the political agenda, the formulation of specific policies, or their implementation and evaluation.

In this course, we follow this process of how lobbyists potentially influence public policy. In Part 1 of the course, we cover the basic units of observation in lobbying: We discuss what we mean by ‘interest organisations’, ‘advocacy’, and ‘lobbying’, how and why societal interests are organised and attract members, and what motivates individual lobbyists when they represent member interests and/or foster relationships with policymakers. Subsequently, in Part 2 of the course, we follow different phases of the ‘influence production process’ on new policy issues, with an eye on how lobbying permeates all phases of the policy cycle. Moreover, we have a closer look at the ‘lobbying toolbox’, including lobbying in coalitions and framing, also based on presentations from practitioners in public affairs (Part 3). The course closes with the design of a lobbying strategy on a specific issue (i.e. our Strategy Game, informed by the course literature), as well as normative reflections about the effects of lobbying and the design of regulation to enhance transparency (Part 4).

The course has a strong focus on academic literature on lobbying in European countries (and beyond), supplemented by practical exercises and guest speakers that give insights into the day-to-day considerations of lobbyists in the Danish context.

Part 1: Introduction and Conceptualisation

1. The Role and Politics of Interest Organisations: An Overview

2. Understanding Communities of Interest Groups

3. Understanding Individual Lobbyists and their Employers

Part 2: The Influence Production Process

4. Issue Mobilisation

5. Inside Lobbying Strategies: Targeting Political Institutions & decision-makers

6. Outside Strategies: Lobbying the Public (incl. Traditional and Social Media)

7. Access to Gatekeepers

8. Influencing Policy Outputs: Access, Success and Power

Part 3: Other Items in the Lobbying Toolbox

9. Information, Argumentation and Framing

10. Lobbying in Coalitions

11. Practitioners’ perspectives: Lobbying Strategies (in-house / public affairs)

Part 4: Re-cap & Conclusions

12. Strategy Game: Design a Lobbying Strategy

13: The Regulation of Lobbying

14. Conclusions: Normative Evaluations of Lobbying