Lobbying and Policy Change

Lobbying and Policy Change
0UIYWSPxnLkC
336
By:"Frank R. Baumgartner","Jeffrey M. Berry","Marie Hojnacki","Beth L. Leech","David C. Kimball"
"Political Science"
Published on 2009-08-01 by University of Chicago Press

Based on a comprehensive examination of ninety-eight issues, this volume demonstrates that sixty percent of recent lobbying campaigns failed to change policy despite millions of dollars spent trying. Why?

READ NOW

During the 2008 election season, politicians from both sides of the aisle promised to rid government of lobbyists’ undue influence. For the authors of Lobbying and Policy Change, the most extensive study ever done on the topic, these promises ring hollow—not because politicians fail to keep them but because lobbies are far less influential than political rhetoric suggests. Based on a comprehensive examination of ninety-eight issues, this volume demonstrates that sixty percent of recent lobbying campaigns failed to change policy despite millions of dollars spent trying. Why? The authors find that resources explain less than five percent of the difference between successful and unsuccessful efforts. Moreover, they show, these attempts must overcome an entrenched Washington system with a tremendous bias in favor of the status quo. Though elected officials and existing policies carry more weight, lobbies have an impact too, and when advocates for a given issue finally succeed, policy tends to change significantly. The authors argue, however, that the lobbying community so strongly reflects elite interests that it will not fundamentally alter the balance of power unless its makeup shifts dramatically in favor of average Americans’ concerns.

This Book was ranked 36 by Google Books for keyword POLICYMAKING IN THE US: PENN IN WASHINGTON D.C..

The book is written in enfor NOT_MATURE

Read Ebook Now
true
true

Printed Version of this book available in
BOOK

Availability of Ebook version is true,"listPrice": {"amount": 30.0,"currencyCode": "USD"in true or true

Public Domain Status false

Rating 5.0 by 1

SAMPLE

false