Spaces of lobbying

Abstract

This paper departs from the observation that a systematic review of the available theories, concepts, and methods and techniques for researching lobbying is lacking. Lobbying is a relational geography of power. And although economic and political geographers study a range of practices that could be considered constitutive to lobbying, they have hitherto largely ignored the spaces of lobbying. We conceptualize lobbying as a practice of 3 flows between spaces of lobbying: the flows of people between organizations, the flows of ideas between these people, and the flows of resources between organizations. Lobbying is fundamental to understand the execution of power by firms towards a range of state actors, and understood as the directed actions of individuals and groups to alter, influence, or hamper the decision‐making process of governments; these actions consist of the mobilization of resources that activate power and enable access to spaces of lobbying. Access to different spaces of lobbying will influence the effectiveness of lobbying practices. Geographers are in a unique position to look at the mobilization of power through access to spaces of lobbying and its resources. We discuss how lobbying is supported by material and immaterial resources for the (re)production of spaces of lobbying. Finally, we present different methods and techniques to research lobbying.

Financialization, Urban Governance and the Planning System: Utilizing ‘Development Viability’ as a Policy Narrative for the Liberalization of Ireland's Post‐Crash Planning System

“…The lobby groups aim to change the tone of political discourse so that their policy ideas come to be seen as logical and appropriate. This works best if policy ideas are seen to have germinated from within the state's policy apparatus rather than from external influence (Hofman and Aalbers, ). The interviews demonstrate that informal interactions can lead to policymakers developing a sense of ownership over particular proposals given the level of input that they have in drafting them with industry.…”

“…A series of hypotheses underpin this primary aim. First, it is hypothesized that the state is facilitative of the real estate and financial sectors owing to their joint interest in promoting economic growth because of ideological considerations and the revolving door that exists between the public and private sectors (Hofman and Aalbers, ). Second, such interests exert considerable influence over planning policymaking through formal and informal means and through their deployment of technical expertise and economic resources (Fox‐Rogers and Murphy, ).…”

The politics of discretion: Authority and influence in asylum dispersal

“…Understanding the dynamics of discretion may also advance a range of geographical debates beyond the case of asylum policy. For example, a growing focus on the role of lobbying and the influence of different interest groups over policy has emerged in both political and economic geography (Hofman and Aalbers 2017;Kuus 2014). These discussions could be developed with a critical engagement with discretion as an expression of power relations and capacities, in addition to the forms of influence and networking readily associated with governance elites.…”

“…In concluding, I argue that tracing the loss, mobilisation, and defensive use of discretion can offer insights into how 'implementation gaps' in asylum policy are negotiated and how tensions between national and local governments are contained. Tracing discretion in this way may thus advance critical interrogations of power relations in welfare bureaucracies (May et al 2019), and develop 6 understandings of institutional agency and influence within liberal democracies (Hofman and Aalbers 2017).…”