Special elective course (Spring semester)
The course provides an overview of the field of organized interest groups and discusses the role of influence in policy and obbying strategies in a comparative and transdisciplinary manner (political science, international politics and political sociology). It examines the genesis, evolution and transformation of interest groups in modern democracies. It presents the main facets of the phenomenon as it has been developed in Europe and elsewhere in the world and explores how they fit into the political and democratic process. Particular emphasis is placed on the influence through mediation, consultation, information and lobbying of interest groups in the design of contemporary public policies as well as their relationship with state structures and European and international institutions. The course highlights the main theoretical currents and research methods in the specific field of analysis while discussing specifιc case studies.
Content lectures:
- Interest groups and public affairs: historical formations, evolution and identity of actors
- The concept of civil society and policy networks. Theories of interest group formation.
- The role of lobbying in contemporary democracies: influence strategies and bargaining power of interest groups
- The role of interest groups in negotiation processes and decision-making of the European Union
- Lobbying and diplomacy: states-lobbyists and public (and digital) diplomacy, lobbyists in service of the state, institutions between lobbying and diplomacy
- Interest Groups and Lobbying in the United States
- State control and lobbying in China
- Transnational interest groups and globalization
- The problem of regulatory and cognitive 'capture'. The political uses of expertise and science.
- The problem of conflict of interest. The convergence of public and private space.
- Private interests and public interest. Citizen anti-lobbying, whistleblowers and public interest.
- Legal regulation of lobbying and transparency. Lobbying regulation in the European Union.
- Methodological observations: how to conduct field research?
