Webinar on ‘How Lobbying Matters’

 

Early in 2024, we invite you to join us to take stock of recent progress in our subfield and discuss our draft for a new Annual Review of Political Science piece on Lobbying Influence.

 

Chairs:

Alex Garlick, University of Vermont

Wiebke Marie Junk, University of Copenhagen

Heath Brown, City University of New York

 

Discussants:

Maraam A. Dwidar, Georgetown University

Bert Fraussen, Leiden University

 

Throughout the last decades, the lobbying field has moved from being “theory rich and data poor” (Arnold 1982, 97) to a state of limbo where – despite greater methodological sophistication – many studies “found no [lobbying] influence or emphasized how very limited that influence was” (Hojnacki et al, 2012, p. 97). Only recently, the field has ripened to a state where studies are able to document the diverse ways in which interest groups exert influence. Since 2012, advances in research methods and the quality of data on lobbying activity have enabled a series of important new studies which document how lobbying matters in policymaking. In our Annual Review, we will distill this process and disseminate the important advances in our field to a broad audience.

 

Format of the webinar:

• Short presentation of the Annual Review Draft by the authors (10-15 minutes)
• Comments and reflections on the state of the research field by Maraam Dwidar and Bert Fraussen (20-25 minutes)
• Reactions and Reflections by the audience (20-30 minutes)

 

The zoom link for the event will be circulated via the ECPR Standing Group mailing list. If you do not have access, but would like to join the webinar, please email wiebke.junk(at)ifs.ku.dk.

 

More information about the review:

We synthesize recent progress in studies of lobbying influence. First, we provide an overview of how causal identification strategies, new data sources and attention to multiple political venues have strengthened empirical studies of lobbying influence. Second, we take stock of the substantive insights that these new approaches have enabled. We review new findings with respect to three pathways to lobbying influence, namely 1) transactional lobbying, where groups can buy political access or even influence, 2) persuasion, where information provided by (different types of) groups feeds into policies, and 3) mobilization, where the effects of lobbying unfold through the activation of the public or other actors outside to political system. Finally, and with these empirical understandings of how interest groups influence policymakers in mind, we conclude by revisiting the larger theoretical debate regarding the implications of lobbying for modern democracies.

 

Text for the Email:

 

Dear Standing Group Members,

 

Treading in the footsteps of a series of great online round tables and other events, we would like to invite you to a short webinar in early 2024 to take stock of recent progress in our subfield.

 

15 February, 15:00-16:00 Central European Time (i.e. 9-10 am Eastern Standard Time)

 

Webinar on ‘How Lobbying Matters’

 

Throughout the last decades, the lobbying field has moved from being “theory rich and data poor” (Arnold 1982, 97) to a state of limbo where – despite greater methodological sophistication – many studies “found no [lobbying] influence or emphasized how very limited that influence was” (Hojnacki et al, 2012, p. 97). Only recently, the field has ripened to a state where studies are able to document the diverse ways in which interest groups exert influence. Since 2012, advances in research methods and the quality of data on lobbying activity have enabled a series of important new studies which document how lobbying matters in policymaking. In our Annual Review of Political Science piece, we will distill this process and disseminate the important advances in our field to a broad audience.

 

The Webinar will give us a chance to discuss our draft for this review with brilliant scholars in the field. First, we will present our take on recent developments, followed by comments and reflections on the state of the research field by Maraam Dwidar (Georgetown University) and Bert Fraussen (Leiden University). There will also be time for an open discussion with the audience.

 

For more information about the event and our review see here: (LINK TO THE WEBSITE ENTRY). Moreover, please see the zoom link for the event below.

 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of you!

Best wishes,

Alex, Heath and Wiebke

 

Topic: ECPR Webinar: How Lobbying Matters

Time: Feb 15, 2024 03:00 PM Copenhagen

 

Join Zoom Meeting

https://ucph-ku.zoom.us/j/68649790719?pwd=d3VlZEJ5UzZYeDl6U0NrNG11czM4Zz09

Meeting ID: 686 4979 0719

Passcode: 314172