Slides Unit 9- The Political Marketplace PDF

UNIT 9: THE POLITICAL MARKETPLACE Quotes and paraphrasing from: Hale, Geoffrey, Chapter 9: “The Political Marketplace: Interest Groups, Policy Communities, and Lobbying” In Geoffrey Hale, Uneasy Partnership, 2018. Also Roy, Jeffrey. “Chapter 2: Lobbying,” In Business and Government in Canada. Ottawa...

UNIT 9: THE POLITICAL MARKETPLACE Quotes and paraphrasing from: Hale, Geoffrey, Chapter 9: “The Political Marketplace: Interest Groups, Policy Communities, and Lobbying” In Geoffrey Hale, Uneasy Partnership, 2018. Also Roy, Jeffrey. “Chapter 2: Lobbying,” In Business and Government in Canada. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 2007. This Unit… Examines the role and function of interest groups and gov’t relations professionals in politics and policy-making Notes the functions performed by industry, trade, and professional associations as they interact with other actors in the political marketplace Explains the development of an independent gov’t relations industry for advising clients on interacting with gov’t, media, public relations, and other groups through policy communities and networks Public Affairs Public Affairs: Process of organizing an organization’s relationships with gov’ts, media, and societal interests to facilitate or complement the pursuit of its main objectives. Large firms set up internal public affairs depts. to manage such relationships Owner/senior manager usually undertakes this in smaller companies or organizations Lobbying Extension of the historic right of petition: enables individuals, groups, and communities to seek (or preserve) legal rights to carry out certain activities from gov’ts or to remedy specific injustices, social problems, and natural calamities. Also involves individual firms’ efforts to influence design of gov’t contracts and procurement processes or to counter other interests. Lobbying Definitions Process of trying to influence gov’ts’ decisions of or other authoritative actors with the power to confer benefits or disadvantages by their actions or inactions. Lobbying Definitions Direct Lobbying: the process of attempting to influence gov’t policies through direct contact with political and bureaucratic decision makers and/or their advisor. Indirect Lobbying: the process of attempting to influence the climate of elite and/or public opinion to influence the choices and decisions of gov’ts and other political and societal actors. Lobbying/Gov’t Relations Spread of lobbying and the professionalization of gov’t relations are logical responses to the growth of gov’t and state intervention. Also emerged into more prominence in the 1980s with the advent of free market principles Alignment with pro-business/pro-market conservative gov’ts whose ideology resisted regulating gov’t activity (Roy). Market Prism Heart of defence of lobbying’s legitimacy is that it involves freedom of organization and expression Also, the policy arena can be thought of as a marketplace of ideas. But are there market failures? Lobbying oligopolies rather than a competitive policy environment? (Show Canada Lobbying Vid) Strategic Analysis and the Political Marketplace Influencing Gov’ts and Policy Making Begins With: Strategic Analysis: an assessment of the opportunities and risks facing specific businesses and organizations, or their members, as a result of the actions or inactions of gov’ts and other political actors. Factors include issues that can affect the organization’s ability to profit, expand, be competitive, etc. Strategic Analysis and the Political Marketplace: 4 Steps Effective strategic analysis involves 4 major steps: 1. Issues awareness and profile: monitoring the news media, legislative developments, and policy literature for the emergence of issues that could benefit or damage the company, industry, or organization. 2. Identifying elements of a potential political support system: identifying individuals and other entities with common or overlapping interests and willing to cooperate- vital to the development of issue networks and advocacy coalitions Strategic Analysis and the Political Marketplace: 4 Steps 3. Identifying competing and/or adversarial interests: involves profiling other businesses, groups, legislators, constituencies within gov’t that may compete with one’s organization over an issue. 4. Identifying and cultivating sources of information on relevant decision makers, their priorities and attitudes about key issues, timing of policy development processes and ceasing opportunities to influence policy makers to translate the previous steps into action. Interest Groups and the Political Marketplace Interest Groups: Formal organizations, sharing common goals and with some autonomy from government, which seek to influence public policy (Stansbury 1993, 119). Often their interests can be prejudicial to the interests or values of a significant segment of society. Pross’s 5 Key Functions of Interest Groups 1. Mobilization/Aggregation 2. Communications 3. Legitimation 4. Negotiation 5. Administration Pross’s 5 Key Functions of Interest Groups 1. Mobilization/Aggregation: Legitimacy and credibility are enhanced with memberships and the a broad encasement of a notable group of citizens or businesses. The larger a group’s membership, the greater its claim to government consideration in policy fields. Pross’s 5 Key Functions of Interest Groups cont’d… Interest aggregation involves building interest networks or coalitions among groups. Forming special purpose org’s can enable groups to coordinate lobbying or public relations to achieve economies of scale in research and hiring of technical experts. Pross’s 5 Key Functions of Interest Groups 2. Communications: Historically: Big Bus. communicate directly with key policy makers, including cabinet ministers; public servants; and at the margins, individual MPs and members of provincial legislatures. Small businesses often contact local elected reps who help them to deal with gov’t bureaucracies. Pross’s 5 Key Functions of Interest Groups 3. Legitimation: Interest groups will want to validate their claim to consideration in the policy-making process. Credibility requires truthfulness, responsiveness, and a capacity to match rhetoric with reality in addressing public concerns related to their firm or industry. Pross’s 5 Key Functions of Interest Groups, legitimation continued… Institutionalized interest groups have secured such recognition. Well-organized, strong membership, hired staff, etc. Examples include established industry associations including: Business Council of Canada Forest Industries Association of Canada Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers Pross’s 5 Key Functions of Interest Groups 4 and 5: Negotiation and administration: Interest groups whose members are seen to have the capacity to facilitate or block the effective implementation of particular gov’t policies may be able to secure formal recognition within the policy process. Enables them to negotiate the details of policy design or implementation. E.g. rule making offloaded to self-regulating groups re: quotas for training, admission, expulsion. Gov’ts may establish an arms-length organization to involve private or non profit sector to administer a program directly like the Canadian Standards Association Group The Political Organization of Business and Canada’s Gov’t Relations Industry Corporatist arrangements in some countries (with a peak business association speaking for whole business community) Firm-centred business culture in Canada. Intense competition between individual firms and conflicting interests of industry sub-sectors. The Political Organization of Business and Canada’s Gov’t Relations Industry Business interests take different forms: Broadly based/comprehensive organizations Sectoral Associations Trade Associations “BST” The Political Organization of Business and Canada’s Gov’t Relations Industry Broadly based/comprehensive associations: Represent businesses across a range of industry sectors Focus on horizontal issues applying to different industries. Need to develop consensus among their memberships Ex: Business Council of Canada, Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Canadian Federation of Independent business, Canadian Manufacturers and exporters The Political Organization of Business and Canada’s Gov’t Relations Industry Sectoral Associations: seek to aggregate and represent a cross section of business interests within major economic (including nonprofit) sectors such as retailing, construction, agriculture, tourism, and health care. Ex: Retail Council of Canada, the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, the Canadian Tourist Industries Association, and the Canadian Construction Association The Political Organization of Business and Canada’s Gov’t Relations Industry Trade Associations: Highly specialized roles; can be a notable number of specialized trade associations in a number of diverse industries. Can represent industry segments divided by things like ownership, relative specialization, size of business, and geographic location. Ex: Detroit-based and non-North American auto makers represented by Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers Association and Global Automakers of Canada respectively; parts and components producers represented by Automotive Parts Manufacturers Association of Canada. The Political Organization of Business and Canada’s Government Relations Industry Special Purpose Organizations: Temporary issue-specific coalitions: emerge when several groups recognize potential benefits of pooling resources toward common policy goal or when political debate becomes polarized on particular issues. May pit a consensus of major business interest groups against networks of other social and economic interest groups. The Role of Professional Lobbyists and Public Affairs Professionals The gov’t relations (GR) industry plays a role distinct from that of industry and trade associations, even though both are often among its clients. Larger businesses can easily access major law firms and public relations companies to guide them in their relations with gov’ts, regulatory agencies, and media Staff often have close personal and political relations with politicians and gov’ts; symbiotic relationship that has evolved in recent decades. Role of Professional Lobbyists and Public Affairs Professionals Growth of the GR industry is a reflection of the complexity of gov’t activity Thus business and industry associations may hire GR professionals for competitive advantage in the political market place Some GR professionals have marketed themselves as being experts on accessing $ from gov’t programs- “grant getters”. Regulating the Role of Professional Lobbyists and Public Affairs Professionals 1989- Mulroney Gov’t introduced Canada’s first Lobbyists registration Act for more transparency, responding to rumours of influence peddling Early 2000s- Harper gov’t extended the law to impose a mandatory five-year cooling off period prohibiting former office holders, political staff, and public servants from lobbying former colleagues. Similar legislation passed in several provinces. Regulating the Role of Professional Lobbyists and Public Affairs Professionals Lobbying Act 2008 notes: Free and open access to gov’t is in the public interest. Lobbying public office holders is a legitimate activity. It is desirable that public office holders and the public know who is engaged in lobbying A system for the registration of paid lobbyists should not impede free and open access to gov’t Regulating the Role of Professional Lobbyists and Public Affairs Professionals Most lobbyist regulations provide for public registration requirements for those in frequent contact with gov’ts. Registration requirements apply to consultant lobbyists, private consultants or GR firm consultants; in-house lobbyists; those working for corporations, unions, gov’t agencies, non-profits; and the organizations that hire and employ them. Laws often require reporting of meetings and communications with office holders Regulating the Role of Professional Lobbyists and Public Affairs Professionals 1997, 2015 revised- Lobbyists code of conduct discourages lobbyists’ relationships with office holders that could be perceived as creating or exploiting a sense of ‘mutual obligation’. A disallowance of registered lobbyists’ participation on constituency executives of political parties or election campaign organizations Unlike in USA, relatively few former politicians go into GR; but a significant # of ministerial assistants have. Mapping Interest Groups and Other Attentive Actors: Policy Communities Policy Communities and Policy Networks are used interchangeably to describe clusters of organizations and interest groups inside and outside governments that focus on a common set of policy interests. Types of Policy Communities Pressure Pluralist: Gov’t decision makers weigh and balance the claims, demands, and suggestions of varied interest groups, None of which exercises significant power over policy outcomes. Gov’ts are autonomous but consider known interests and views of stakeholders, some of which hold more weight than others. Types of Policy Communities Clientele Pluralist: display a mutual identification of interests by one or more stakeholder groups and policy makers in the lead agency. Ministers and departmental officials tend to perceive the public interest as consistent with the interests of these client groups. Types of Policy Communities Clientele Pluralist cont’d Long associated with dept’s and agencies responsible for promoting, overseeing, and regulating oligopolistic industries (e.g. big pharma). Example: Health Canada. State has lots of influence, but, because of lack of specific expertise, Health Canada (state) will relinquish some authority to pharmaceutical industry (Rx&D, similar objectives: research and development for health). Also seen in the operations of industry-sector branches in a ministry of economic development or in creation of a ministry of mines, forests, fisheries, natural resources, or cultural industries. Types of Policy Communities Co-optive pluralist: often a temporary phenomenon, interest-group participants in such policy communities are initially dependent on gov’t funding for much of their budgets. Socially or politically disadvantaged groups Types of Policy Communities Parentela Pluralism: involves the politicization of the civil service and gov’t agencies as particular interest groups allied with governing parties arrange to have their representatives appointed to positions within the gov’t. Counter to the principle of civil service independence. Tactic of parties to assure that when in power, bureaucrats won’t sabotage their agenda. 1910-70 civil service reforms have reduced this. Types of Policy Communities Liberal Corporatism: attempts to provide formal representation for major stakeholder groups within relevant gov’t decision-making structures, sometimes as an institutional response to deep social divisions. May often be partially distanced from societal interests they represent, in order to negotiate differences with other stakeholders and develop an elite consensus to bridge societal divisions. Types of Policy Communities Concertation Networks: dominant stake-holder organizations act in concert with the state to create policy in the public interest (e.g. a major union or oligopolistic industries).