The concept of "lobbyism" was first born in Britain in the middle of the 19th century. In its original interpretation, lobbying is the pressure on decision makers in order to secure the necessary decisions. The clearest example is direct or indirect pressure on MPs during their voting on
bills. This is exactly what the big English industrialists began to do, gathering on the sidelines of the Legislative Chamber during the days of sessions and trying one way or another to convince parliamentarians to take the necessary decisions.
Today, lobbying is a somewhat broader phenomenon. It covers not only the sphere of interests of business, but also public organizations, science, education, art, ideological movements, and so on. The political lobbying of large industrialists of the century before last had a pronounced negative and even illegal character. Today, this activity has fully entered into the daily life of the democratic states of the planet. In the modern world of political PR, lobbying is also a professional activity. Moreover, a corresponding discipline has recently appeared in a number of speci alties of world and Russian universities. And in the US, according to statistics, there are more than 12,000 official lobbyists.
Lobbyism in politics and its techniques
There are two types of such actions: direct and indirect. The former include face-to-face meetings and discussions with members of the legislature; holding presentations and campaigning among them; assistance in the preparation of draft laws; professional advice; provision of various services to deputies and political parties; direct deposit of money into their account, for example, to conduct election campaigns. Indirect lobbying is indirect actions through which pressure is exerted on parliamentarians. Examples include the following:
1. Influence of public opinion. In this case, certain moods are provoked in the society itself (usually through the media), and then it becomes an instrument of pressure on legislators.
2. Social poll. Such surveys often have pre-planned results. This may be due to the choice of a particular social group, region, provocative formulation of the question, and so on. The results of such polls published later also become a lever of influence.
3. Attracting voters. This is the case when lobbyists directly appeal to citizens and agitate them to appeal, in turn, to deputies: writing a letter, making a phone call. A large-scale option could be to convene a rally for the adoption of certain bills.
4. situational associations. In some cases, lobbyists may organize under separate laws that are beneficial to participants in suchassociations. Even if their other interests do not coincide. Deputies are more inclined to meet with representatives of such groups, since this eliminates the need to listen to the demands of different groups that overlap. Accordingly, it saves time and energy.