Teaching Plan Information

Presentation

This course is part of what is known as the public affairs and institutional relations fields.

Interest groups, also called pressure groups, are associations of individuals or organizations that, on the basis of one or more shared concerns, attempt to influence public policy in its favor. Interest groups work to achieve their goal of influencing public policy through the activity of advocacy and lobbying. Not all advocacy and lobbying activities are directed to influence immediate policy decisions, some are intended to gain access to policy makers or create an atmosphere that will be conducive to the group in shaping future government policy. Yet all advocacy and lobbying activities are strongly dependent on communication techniques. Amongst these techniques, knowledge creation conducted by public policy research organizations, also known as think tanks, plays an increasingly important role.

This is a project-oriented course. The course starts by introducing students to lobbies and think tanks as actors largely involved in the use of communication strategies and tools (both for profit and for non-profit aims). The political economy of lobbies and think tanks and the key steps of any advocacy and lobby campaign are addressed during the first half of the course, as well as the ethical reflection. Several lobbying campaigns, involving lobbies and think tanks, are introduced to the students as case studies in the different lessons.

Gender perspective criteria have been taken into account in the design of the course content. In particular, an intersectional perspective that takes into account the interrelationship between different forms of oppression is adopted here. This perspective is addressed transversally in the different lectures, and has informed the selection of examples, content and case studies provided, especially those of the non-profit sector. It is intended to illustrate the role of interest groups and their communication strategies in Western societies in promoting or combating oppression.

The course is fully devoted to preparing a non-profit advocacy/lobby campaign. The goal is to train students on how to do ethical and effective advocacy/lobbying by means of conducting empirical and applied research and of developing practical advocacy/lobbying skills for a real-life cause.

Associated skills

• Analysis skills.
• Critical work assessment and self-assessment.
• Autonomous work
• Teamwork skills.

Learning outcomes

• Knowledge of the lobby running: political economy, legal regulation, ethical rules…
• Targeting & analysing the techniques & resources used to influence public opinion.
• Locating prevailing public discourses and understanding their construction and assimilation processes.
• Identifying the functions of public discourse authors.
• Knowledge and capacity for designing strategies to influence public opinion.
• Knowledge of the different types of influence groups and their performance.

Sustainable Development Goals

The three United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that are worked on most in this subject are 5 (Gender equality); 12 (Responsible consumption and production); 13 (Climate action), and 17 (Partnership for the goals). These objectives are worked on either transversally during the lectures with the case studies provided, or during the elaboration of the final campaign, whose theme, diet and sustainability, is aligned with these development goals.

Prerequisites

Public Relations track or related studies for students from outside the department.

Contents

1. Introduction to public affairs and interest groups: definition, typologies, lobbying vs advocacy, interest groups theory.
2. Lobbying in Western countries: typology, political economy, and communicative dimensions.
3. Think tanks or advocacy research institutes: typology, political economy and communicative dimensions.
4. Ethics in lobbying. The moral dimensions of lobbying practices.
5. Advocacy & lobbying techniques: The common elements of a successful lobbying and advocacy campaign. How to lobby the institutions.
6. Advocacy & lobbying in practice: Research and development of an advocacy campaign. The general topic that informs the campaigns of the course is diet & sustainability.

Case studies related to for-profit lobbying and non-profit advocacy are presented in the different points of the programme.

Teaching Methods

The course will be face-to-face. However, it is possible that some sessions, such as guest lectures or tutoring sessions, may be held virtually. On the whole, the course consists of a combination of:

• Lectures
• Readings
• Audio-visuals
• Discussions and debates
• Participation in Moodle activities
• Personal enquiry and individual research
• Teamwork
• Tutoring sessions
• Students peer review
• Students self-review

Further information about the teaching methods, calendar, and sessions, will be provided through Moodle in an extended syllabus at the start of the course.

Evaluation

This is a self-assessed course. This means that the instructors will produce feedback at different moments during the course (and at students request) but will allocate no numerical score during the course. At the end of the ten weeks, students will suggest a grade for their individual global performance and achievement following a rubric. Self-assessment should be in accordance with different guidelines provided by the instructors and will be reviewed by them (and adjusted if necessary). For more details, deadlines, and instructions please check the full syllabus uploaded in Moodle for this course.

Bibliography and information resources

Abelson, Donald E. 2018. Do think tanks matter? Assessing the impact of public policy institutes. 3rd ed. Montreal, Canadá: McGill-Queen’s University Press.

Alemanno, Alberto. 2017. Lobbying for Change. Find your Voice to Create a Better Society. London: Icon Books.

Almiron, Núria. 2017. ‘Favoring the Elites: Think Tanks and Discourse Coalitions’. International Journal of Communication 11: 4350–69.

Almiron, Núria, Jose A. Moreno, and Justin Farrell. 2022. ‘Climate change contrarian think tanks in Europe: A network analysis’. Public Understanding of Science, December, 1–16.

Almiron, Núria & Xifra, Jordi. 2020. Climate Change Denial and Public Relations. Strategic Communication and Interest Groups in Climate Inaction. London: Routledge.

Almiron, Núria, and Jordi Xifra. 2021. Rethinking Think Tanks. Experts vs. Impostors. Zaragoza, Spain: Prensas de la Universidad de Zaragoza.

Almiron, Núria, Miquel Rodrigo-Alsina, and Jose A. Moreno. 2021. ‘Manufacturing Ignorance: Think Tanks, Climate Change and the Animal-Based Diet’. Environmental Politics, June, 1–22.

Balfour, Rosa, Corinna Hörst, Pia Husch, Sofiia Shevchuk, and Eleonora del Vecchio. 2020. ‘Absent Influencers? Women in European Think Tanks’. The German Marshall Fund of the United States.

Bas, Van der Vossen. 2014. ‘There Is No Ethic of Lobbying’. Georgetown Journal of Law & Public Policy 12: 359–72.

Binderkrantz, Anne Skorkjær, Laura Chaqués Bonafont, and Darren R. Halpin. 2017. ‘Diversity in the News? A Study of Interest Groups in the Media in the UK, Spain and Denmark’. British Journal of Political Science 47 (2): 313–28.

Braeman, Kathryn M, and Gladys E. Henrikson. 2019. Carol Burris and the Women's Lobby: The Untold Story of a Shoestring Lobbyist. Oakton, VA: Justitia Publishing

Burley, Helen, William Dinan, Olivier Hoedeman, and Erik Wesselius, eds. 2010. Bursting the Brussels Bubble. The Battle to Expose Corporate Lobbying at the Heart of the EU. Brussels: Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation in the EU (ALTER-EU).

Crenshaw, Kimberle. 1991. ‘Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color’. Stanford Law Review 43 (6): 1241–1300.

CSSN. 2021. ‘The Structure of Obstruction: Understanding Opposition to Climate Change Action in the United States’. CSSN Primer. Providence, RI: Climate Social Science Network (CSSN).

Hankivsky, Olena, and Julia S. Jordan-Zachery, eds. 2019. The Palgrave Handbook of Intersectionality in Public Policy. Cham: Springer International Publishing.

Joy, Melanie. 2019. Powerarchy: Understanding the Psychology of Oppression for Social Transformation. Oakland, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

Kluger Dionigi, Maja. 2012. ‘The Influence of Interest Groups in the European Parliament: Does Policy Shape Politics?’ PhD Thesis, London: London School of Economics and Political Science.

Klüver, Heike. 2013. Lobbying in the European Union: Interest Groups, Lobbying Coalitions, and Policy Change. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Lakoff, George. 2014. Don’t Think of an Elephant! 2nd ed. White River Junction, Vermont: Chelsea Green.

Lerbinger, Otto. 2006. Corporate Public Affairs: Interacting With Interest Groups, Media, And Government. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Libby, Pat. 2021. The Lobbying Strategy Handbook. 10 Steps to Advancing Any Cause Effectively. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press.

Lundy, David. 2017. ‘Lobby Planet Brussels. The Corporate Europe Observatory Guide to the Murky World of EU Lobbying’. Brussels: Corporate Europe Observatory.

Năstase, Andreea. 2020. ‘An Ethics for the Lobbying Profession? The Role of Private Associations in Defining and Codifying Behavioural Standards for Lobbyists in the EU’. Interest Groups & Advocacy 9 (4): 495–519.

Oreskes, Naomi, and Erik M. Conway. 2012. Merchants of Doubt. How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming. New York: Bloomsbury.

Scott, John C. 2018. Lobbying and Society: A Political Sociology of Interest Groups. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.

Villoria, Manuel, Esteban Arribas, Jorge Fernández-Rúa, Ildefonso Hernández, Elena Herrero-Beaumont, Fernando Jiménez, Carmen Mateo, and Rafael Rubio. 2014. ‘An Institutional Evaluation of Lobbying in Spain: Analysis and Proposals’. Transparency International España.

Weidenbaum, Murray. 2010. ‘Measuring the Influence of Think Tanks’. Society 47 (2): 134–37.

Teaching Plan Information

Presentation

This course is part of what is known as the public affairs and institutional relations fields.

Interest groups, also called pressure groups, are associations of individuals or organizations that, on the basis of one or more shared concerns, attempt to influence public policy in its favor. Interest groups work to achieve their goal of influencing public policy through the activity of advocacy and lobbying. Not all advocacy and lobbying activities are directed to influence immediate policy decisions, some are intended to gain access to policy makers or create an atmosphere that will be conducive to the group in shaping future government policy. Yet all advocacy and lobbying activities are strongly dependent on communication techniques. Amongst these techniques, knowledge creation conducted by public policy research organizations, also known as think tanks, plays an increasingly important role.

This is a project-oriented course. The course starts by introducing students to lobbies and think tanks as actors largely involved in the use of communication strategies and tools (both for profit and for non-profit aims). The political economy of lobbies and think tanks and the key steps of any advocacy and lobby campaign are addressed during the first half of the course, as well as the ethical reflection. Several lobbying campaigns, involving lobbies and think tanks, are introduced to the students as case studies in the different lessons.

Gender perspective criteria have been taken into account in the design of the course content. In particular, an intersectional perspective that takes into account the interrelationship between different forms of oppression is adopted here. This perspective is addressed transversally in the different lectures, and has informed the selection of examples, content and case studies provided, especially those of the non-profit sector. It is intended to illustrate the role of interest groups and their communication strategies in Western societies in promoting or combating oppression.

The course is fully devoted to preparing a non-profit advocacy/lobby campaign. The goal is to train students on how to do ethical and effective advocacy/lobbying by means of conducting empirical and applied research and of developing practical advocacy/lobbying skills for a real-life cause.

Associated skills

• Analysis skills.
• Critical work assessment and self-assessment.
• Autonomous work
• Teamwork skills.

Learning outcomes

• Knowledge of the lobby running: political economy, legal regulation, ethical rules…
• Targeting & analysing the techniques & resources used to influence public opinion.
• Locating prevailing public discourses and understanding their construction and assimilation processes.
• Identifying the functions of public discourse authors.
• Knowledge and capacity for designing strategies to influence public opinion.
• Knowledge of the different types of influence groups and their performance.

Sustainable Development Goals

The three United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that are worked on most in this subject are 5 (Gender equality); 12 (Responsible consumption and production); 13 (Climate action), and 17 (Partnership for the goals). These objectives are worked on either transversally during the lectures with the case studies provided, or during the elaboration of the final campaign, whose theme, diet and sustainability, is aligned with these development goals.

Prerequisites

Public Relations track or related studies for students from outside the department.

Contents

1. Introduction to public affairs and interest groups: definition, typologies, lobbying vs advocacy, interest groups theory.
2. Lobbying in Western countries: typology, political economy, and communicative dimensions.
3. Think tanks or advocacy research institutes: typology, political economy and communicative dimensions.
4. Ethics in lobbying. The moral dimensions of lobbying practices.
5. Advocacy & lobbying techniques: The common elements of a successful lobbying and advocacy campaign. How to lobby the institutions.
6. Advocacy & lobbying in practice: Research and development of an advocacy campaign. The general topic that informs the campaigns of the course is diet & sustainability.

Case studies related to for-profit lobbying and non-profit advocacy are presented in the different points of the programme.

Teaching Methods

The course will be face-to-face. However, it is possible that some sessions, such as guest lectures or tutoring sessions, may be held virtually. On the whole, the course consists of a combination of:

• Lectures
• Readings
• Audio-visuals
• Discussions and debates
• Participation in Moodle activities
• Personal enquiry and individual research
• Teamwork
• Tutoring sessions
• Students peer review
• Students self-review

Further information about the teaching methods, calendar, and sessions, will be provided through Moodle in an extended syllabus at the start of the course.

Evaluation

This is a self-assessed course. This means that the instructors will produce feedback at different moments during the course (and at students request) but will allocate no numerical score during the course. At the end of the ten weeks, students will suggest a grade for their individual global performance and achievement following a rubric. Self-assessment should be in accordance with different guidelines provided by the instructors and will be reviewed by them (and adjusted if necessary). For more details, deadlines, and instructions please check the full syllabus uploaded in Moodle for this course.

Bibliography and information resources

Abelson, Donald E. 2018. Do think tanks matter? Assessing the impact of public policy institutes. 3rd ed. Montreal, Canadá: McGill-Queen’s University Press.

Alemanno, Alberto. 2017. Lobbying for Change. Find your Voice to Create a Better Society. London: Icon Books.

Almiron, Núria. 2017. ‘Favoring the Elites: Think Tanks and Discourse Coalitions’. International Journal of Communication 11: 4350–69.

Almiron, Núria, Jose A. Moreno, and Justin Farrell. 2022. ‘Climate change contrarian think tanks in Europe: A network analysis’. Public Understanding of Science, December, 1–16.

Almiron, Núria & Xifra, Jordi. 2020. Climate Change Denial and Public Relations. Strategic Communication and Interest Groups in Climate Inaction. London: Routledge.

Almiron, Núria, and Jordi Xifra. 2021. Rethinking Think Tanks. Experts vs. Impostors. Zaragoza, Spain: Prensas de la Universidad de Zaragoza.

Almiron, Núria, Miquel Rodrigo-Alsina, and Jose A. Moreno. 2021. ‘Manufacturing Ignorance: Think Tanks, Climate Change and the Animal-Based Diet’. Environmental Politics, June, 1–22.

Balfour, Rosa, Corinna Hörst, Pia Husch, Sofiia Shevchuk, and Eleonora del Vecchio. 2020. ‘Absent Influencers? Women in European Think Tanks’. The German Marshall Fund of the United States.

Bas, Van der Vossen. 2014. ‘There Is No Ethic of Lobbying’. Georgetown Journal of Law & Public Policy 12: 359–72.

Binderkrantz, Anne Skorkjær, Laura Chaqués Bonafont, and Darren R. Halpin. 2017. ‘Diversity in the News? A Study of Interest Groups in the Media in the UK, Spain and Denmark’. British Journal of Political Science 47 (2): 313–28.

Braeman, Kathryn M, and Gladys E. Henrikson. 2019. Carol Burris and the Women's Lobby: The Untold Story of a Shoestring Lobbyist. Oakton, VA: Justitia Publishing

Burley, Helen, William Dinan, Olivier Hoedeman, and Erik Wesselius, eds. 2010. Bursting the Brussels Bubble. The Battle to Expose Corporate Lobbying at the Heart of the EU. Brussels: Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation in the EU (ALTER-EU).

Crenshaw, Kimberle. 1991. ‘Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color’. Stanford Law Review 43 (6): 1241–1300.

CSSN. 2021. ‘The Structure of Obstruction: Understanding Opposition to Climate Change Action in the United States’. CSSN Primer. Providence, RI: Climate Social Science Network (CSSN).

Hankivsky, Olena, and Julia S. Jordan-Zachery, eds. 2019. The Palgrave Handbook of Intersectionality in Public Policy. Cham: Springer International Publishing.

Joy, Melanie. 2019. Powerarchy: Understanding the Psychology of Oppression for Social Transformation. Oakland, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

Kluger Dionigi, Maja. 2012. ‘The Influence of Interest Groups in the European Parliament: Does Policy Shape Politics?’ PhD Thesis, London: London School of Economics and Political Science.

Klüver, Heike. 2013. Lobbying in the European Union: Interest Groups, Lobbying Coalitions, and Policy Change. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Lakoff, George. 2014. Don’t Think of an Elephant! 2nd ed. White River Junction, Vermont: Chelsea Green.

Lerbinger, Otto. 2006. Corporate Public Affairs: Interacting With Interest Groups, Media, And Government. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Libby, Pat. 2021. The Lobbying Strategy Handbook. 10 Steps to Advancing Any Cause Effectively. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press.

Lundy, David. 2017. ‘Lobby Planet Brussels. The Corporate Europe Observatory Guide to the Murky World of EU Lobbying’. Brussels: Corporate Europe Observatory.

Năstase, Andreea. 2020. ‘An Ethics for the Lobbying Profession? The Role of Private Associations in Defining and Codifying Behavioural Standards for Lobbyists in the EU’. Interest Groups & Advocacy 9 (4): 495–519.

Oreskes, Naomi, and Erik M. Conway. 2012. Merchants of Doubt. How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming. New York: Bloomsbury.

Scott, John C. 2018. Lobbying and Society: A Political Sociology of Interest Groups. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.

Villoria, Manuel, Esteban Arribas, Jorge Fernández-Rúa, Ildefonso Hernández, Elena Herrero-Beaumont, Fernando Jiménez, Carmen Mateo, and Rafael Rubio. 2014. ‘An Institutional Evaluation of Lobbying in Spain: Analysis and Proposals’. Transparency International España.

Weidenbaum, Murray. 2010. ‘Measuring the Influence of Think Tanks’. Society 47 (2): 134–37.