Institutional and Informal Lobbying Practices: The Problem of Separation and Interpretation

The possibilities and limitations of institutional (including legislative) regulation of interest groups' representation and lobbying practices in their interaction with the power structures are analyzed. Almost any legal institutional lobbyist transaction has its informal "counterpart", which reduces transaction costs on the markets of public communications. Laws are able to absorb only a small fraction of behavioral diversity in the lobbyist market, regardless of the status of any national legislation. The author identifies five reasons why formal and informal lobbyism are complementary rather than interchangeable activities. The subjects of informal lobbyism (including social networks) are characterized.

Keywords

political sociology, lobbyism, informal social interactions, informal practices, interest groups, regulation, institutional communications

Acknowledgment

This article is a translation of: Левичева В.Ф. Институциональные и неформальные практики лоббизма: проблема разделения и интерпретации // Sotsiologicheskie Issledovaniia. 2021. No 10: 50–60. DOI: 0.31857/S013216250017165-4

Received

15.12.2021

Publication date

22.12.2021

Number of characters

34769

Cite Download pdf

GOST	Levicheva V. Institutional and Informal Lobbying Practices: The Problem of Separation and Interpretation // Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya – 2021. – Issue 11 C. 185-193 [Electronic resource]. URL: http://ras.jes.su/socis/s013216250017617-1-1-en (circulation date: 10.10.2024). DOI: 10.31857/S013216250017617-1
MLA	Levicheva, Valentina "Institutional and Informal Lobbying Practices: The Problem of Separation and Interpretation." Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya 11 (2021):185-193. DOI: 10.31857/S013216250017617-1
APA	Levicheva V. (2021). Institutional and Informal Lobbying Practices: The Problem of Separation and Interpretation. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya (11), pp.185-193 DOI: 10.31857/S013216250017617-1

Number of purchasers: 0, views: 749

Readers community rating: votes 0

1. Arutiunian A.S (2016) Lobbying: How to Turn Evil into Good. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. No. 5: 54–60. (In Russ.)

2. Beketova S.M., Fedyunin I.G. (2018) Legal Regulation of Lobbyism in the Russian Federation. Konstitutsionalizm i gosudarstvovedenie [Constitutionalism and Political Science]. No. 1(11): 19–23. (In Russ.)

3. Belousov A.B. (2019) The Problem of Revolving Doors in the United States: Between Lobbying and Institutional Corruption. In: Actual Problems of Scientific Support of the State Policy of the Russian Federation in the Field of Combating Corruption. Yekaterinburg: IFP UrO RAN: 564–576. (In Russ.)

4. Feldman P.Ya. (2014) Lobbying within the System of Social and Political Institutions in the Modern Russia. Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya [International Relations]. No. 3: 392–397. DOI: 10.7256/2305-560X.2014.3.10562. (In Russ.)

5. Harrison L., Huntington S. (2000) Culture Matters: How Values Shape Human Progress. New York: Basic Books.

6. Helmke G., Levitsky S. (2007) Informal Institutions and Comparative Politics: A Research Agenda.

7. Prognozis [Prognosis]. No. 2: 188–211. (In Russ.)

8. Olson M. (1995) The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of Groups. Moscow: FEI. (In Russ.)

9. Pavroz A.V. (2016) Lobbying: Institutional Foundations and Practices of Political Influence in Democratic Societies. St. Petersburg: RHGA. (In Russ.)

10. Rhodes R.A.W. (1986) “Power Dependence”. Theories of Central-Local Relations: A Critical Reassessment. In: Goldsmith M.J. (ed.) New Research in Central-Local Relations. Aldershot: Gower: 1–33.

11. Richardson J.J., Jordan G. (1979) Governing under Pressure: The Policy Process in a Post-Parliamentary Democracy. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

12. Van Schendelen R. (2010) More Machiavelli in Brussels: The Art of Lobbying the EU. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.

13. Williamson P.J. (1989) Corporatism in Perspective: Аn Introductory Guide to Corporatist Theory. London: Sage Publications.