Lobbying
Government relations, is a form of advocacy that legally attempts to influence and/or understand policy decisions made by legislators, members of regulatory agencies in the executive branch, or in some cases judges. Lobbying, a major and most well known component of government relations on the other hand, consists of "directly advocating for or against particular legislation or regulations."
The work of advocates and lobbyists generally include activities that require direct contact with lawmakers, policymakers, and/or their staff; most often professional lobbyists require entry in a lobby register as a registered lobbyist, while most other advocates do not. Although the profession of government relations, as well as the public affairs industry, are not exclusive to lobbyists, it also includes advocates and non-lobbyist '''government relations professionals that assist lobbyists or other influence efforts but are not legally classified as such. A principal is a person or organization that hires a lobbyist, or is a senior member of an organization or advocacy group that is advocating on behalf of itself and/or coordinates constituent meetings with lawmakers on behalf of interested individuals from the general public.'''
Overview
Lobbying involves direct meetings with legislators to influence policy decisions based on their political interests and goals. Lobbying can be carried out by various entities, including individuals acting as constituents, corporations pursuing business interests, nonprofits, NGOs through advocacy groups, and political action committees.Some government relations practices may include the use of campaign finance by contributing endorsements for political candidates and proposed public policies to achieve a group's political interests.
When government relations work is done in-house among non-profit organizations, humanitarian aid organizations, trade unions, professional associations, trade associations, or chambers of commerce, it is referred to as policy and advocacy; where lobbying alongside litigation, public education, coalition building, capacity building, and other types of advocacy, is known as one of several components to the activity known as policy advocacy. It is also an industry known by many of the aforementioned names, and has a near-complete overlap with the public affairs industry.
Legislative relations can include legislators influencing each other or government officials in the executive and judicial branch agencies reporting to and/or interacting with the legislative branch through their respective offices of legislative affairs.
Types of practitioners
In government relations, and advocacy in general, practitioners may fall into several different categories.A principal, is a person, organization, or member of an organization that hires a lobbyist to represent their interests before lawmakers or their staff in direct lobbying settings, or a senior member of an organization or advocacy group that is advocating for a certain cause on their own behalf without a registered lobbyist and coordinates constituent meetings between advocates, the legislators that represent them individually, and on on behalf of interested individuals from the general public when conducted in grassroots lobbying settings.
Advocates who are practitioners of grassroots lobbying, such as individual voters/voter blocs within an electoral district, community organizers, grassroots staff members, or amateur non-professional volunteers at advocacy groups and political organizations, who are there either as constituent advocates ready to share their views and concerns with the lawmaker that represent them, or as principals and non-constituent advocates reaching out to legislators' offices for which they are not a constituent of with the goal of advocating for specific causes the coordinating organization supports. In a legal sense advocates and amateur lobbyists may not even be classified as lobbyists at all due to not meeting the threshold for registration.
Professional lobbyists are practitioners of direct lobbying, they engage in lobbying as a business or profession by trying to influence legislation, regulations, government decisions, actions, or policies on behalf of a group or individual who hires them and are generally required to enter their names into a lobby register as registered lobbyists.
Then there are non-lobbyist 'government relations and public affairs professionals' such as consultants, administrative professionals, project managers, research assistants, lawyers, government relations specialists, legislative assistants, legislative coordinators, legislative correspondents, public relations/communications professionals, administrative assistants and other support staff who work on behalf of professional lobbyists but may not actively engage in directly influencing or face-to-face meetings with targeted individuals to the extent required for registration as lobbyists, operating within the same professional circles as registered lobbyists.
Regulations
s, advocacy groups, volunteer coalitions, and political action committees may also engage in lobbying as part of their mission-related activities. Governments often define "lobbying" for legal purposes, and regulate organized group lobbying that has become influential. Requiring disclosure of financial expenditures, the identities of clients, and the specific issues being lobbied in order to promote transparency and limit potential conflicts of interest.The international standards for the regulation of lobbying were introduced at four international organizations and supranational associations: 1) the European Union; 2) the Council of Europe; 3) the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development; 4) the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Governments can define and regulate organized group lobbying as part of federal laws to prevent political corruption, thereby establishing transparency about possible influences by public lobby registers.
Implications on lobbying
As there are laws regulating lobbying, there are often loopholes in these frameworks. The Lobbying Disclosure Act has several loopholes and weaknesses that allow lobbying influences to occur with limited transparency.A significant implication of the LDA is the narrow definition of what is considered lobbying activity. To fall under this criteria, an individual must spend 20% or more of their time lobbying for a client and have more than one lobbying contact in a six month period.
The revolving door concept disproportionately affects the lobbying industry. This is the cycle of former congress members switching between the roles as legislators and regulators, and with the roles of the industries affected by legislation and regulation. This is a major implication because one of the main assets for successful lobbying is the ability to directly contact and influence government officials. "Revolving door" lobbyists are able to use their inside knowledge on current legislation and use established personal relationships from their previous government jobs to sway policy outcomes. This climate is attractive for ex-government officials as it can bring substantial monetary rewards for lobbying firms, government projects, and contracts worth millions of dollars for those they represent.
Methods
generally concentrate their efforts on legislatures, the process in which laws and policies are passed, as well as at the executive branch, where laws are enforced by regulatory agencies; but may also use the judiciary to advance their causes. For example by acting as parties or amici curiae in lawsuits. For example, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, filed suits in state and federal courts in the 1950s in aims to challenge segregation laws. Their efforts resulted in the Supreme Court declaring such laws as unconstitutional.Lobbyists and non-lobbyists may use a legal device known as amicus curiae briefs to try to influence court cases. Briefs are written documents filed with a court, typically by parties to a lawsuit. Amici curiae briefs are briefs filed by people or groups who are not parties to a suit. These briefs are entered into the court records and give additional background on the matter being decided upon. Advocacy groups use these briefs both to share their expertise and to promote their positions.
In 2013, the director general of the World Health Organization, Margaret Chan, illustrated the methods used in lobbying against public health issues:
Lobbying can be categorized as inside lobbying, which directly interacts with decision-makers, or outside lobbying, which pressures decision-makers through mobilization of public opinion.
Effects
According to a 2025 review of research on lobbying, three effects of lobbying have been documented in the academic literature:First, in line with public suspicions, lobbyists have transactional relationships with public officials in which they exchange money for political access and influence. Second, lobbyists persuade public officials by providing information that changes the positions taken by policymakers. Third, successful mobilization of citizen support or lobbying coalitions helps lobbyists attain policy aims.
Public affairs industry
Public affairs generally refers to the engagement efforts between organizations, often times in the context of building business or governmental relationships. The industry has developed over recent years and is normally considered a branch or sub-discipline of public relations. Having such a broad range of coverage regarding its definition, public affairs is, by nature, a hybrid of disciplines that relies heavily on strategic communication. While often equated with lobbying, this is usually only a small part of what a public affairs practitioner might do. Other typical functions include research, strategy planning and providing advice. Dr. Juan-Carlos Molleda writes, “Many types of organizations virtually and physically interact and communicate with publics and/or audiences outside of their own country of origin to build a dynamic set of relationships. Trade, direct foreign investment, political coalitions, worthy global causes, information flow, and social networking, among other phenomena, are increasing the complexity of those relationships dramatically”.Organizations who make use of public affairs are typically large companies, charities, trade unions, membership organizations and interest groups. They will either have staff working directly for them or employ a firm of public affairs consultants. Very often public affairs staff will work with their non-PR colleagues who are experts in a given field. Public affairs fundamentally has a global impact, and it is necessary to view it through the lens of the perspective nation in which it is being practiced.
Given public affairs’ current development, there is still a common perception among those not within the industry that synonymize public affairs with lobbying, as well as public relations. Within the Global North, public affairs entails not only the former, but additionally information monitoring, media management, event planning and organization, political marketing, and of course, networking. The industry itself is expected to grow in employment opportunities by 7% between 2019 and 2029 in the US, faster than the average for all other occupations, and can mostly be contributed to the growing need for organizations to maintain their public image in such a media-abundant society. It is difficult to determine the size of the public affairs industry in the United Kingdom. Studies suggest the industry is becoming more professionalized, and that it is more widespread than often assumed. The Chartered Institute of Public Relations, which is the UK's professional body for public relations including public affairs, estimates there are around 48,000 people involved in PR, of which 30% are involved in public affairs. This research is limited as it only measures specific job titles and those who declare themselves to be working in PR. There are large numbers of professionals providing public affairs services while working under different job titles across a wide variety of sectors. The job titles of public affairs practitioners may vary, depending on the focus of their role, but may include, "public affairs", "external affairs/relations", "corporate communications", "government/parliamentary affairs" and "policy".
Worldwide, the industry is expected to grow from $63.8 billion in 2018 to $93.07 billion by 2022. North America is currently holding the largest segment of that value, and is expected to maintain its standing, followed by Europe, with an increased investment in digital programmatic public relations efforts overall. Globally, governments are continuing to enforce data protection laws in order to protect individuals against unfair government or business practices, through regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation in the European Union. In the United States, President Barack Obama has introduced several measures intended to increase transparency in public affairs. In an attempt to close the "revolving door" of executive-branch officials becoming lobbyists immediately following the expiration of their federal appointments, he issued Executive Order 13490 on January 21, 2009, dictating, among other things, a two-year ban on lobbying for former top executive branch officials related to any issue that they worked on during their final year in government employment. He also introduced a ban on verbal communication between lobbyists and the federal agencies tasked with awarding economic recovery funds. These measures have proved controversial and while some argue they are a positive and necessary step, others have deemed the policies as failures due to various loopholes.
The importance of media and the distribution of information in public affairs industry has experienced a myriad of trends over the last few decades. Between the 1950s and 1970s, studies found that there was an increase in the consumption of news through television broadcasting, while the newspaper decreased in circulation during this period. A study done in 1970 by Peter Clarke and Lee Ruggles also found that during this evolution from print to radio and television news, people still would turn to print or newspapers for local news, more often than national or international news on public affairs as it was considered easier to follow and understand. Moving into the 1980s and 1990s, the increased exposure to the readily available coverage of politics and public affairs, it was found that those who were interested in such information, readily sought it out and enjoyed discussing it with others. This sense of community and interest in conversing about such topics continues to evolve and has resulted into what is known today as social media. In fact, in the last decade or so, particularly among younger people, the consumption of news in general has declined and there is a reliance on getting information through social media. Thus, social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter being some of the most popular, in addition to news apps, are increasingly becoming the main sources of political and public affairs news, and news in general.