Public Affairs in Practice: A Practical Guide to Lobbying

192 Pages·2007·1.14 MB·English

by  Stuart Thomson

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Public Affairs
in Practice
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P R I N P R A C T I C E S E R I E S
Public Affairs
in Practice
A Practical Guide to Lobbying
Stuart Thomson
and Steve John
London and Philadelphia
Publisher’s note
Every possible effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in
this book is accurate at the time of going to press, and the publishers and authors
cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions, however caused. No
responsibility for loss or damage occasioned to any person acting, or refraining
from action, as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by the
editor, the publisher or any of the authors.
First published in Great Britain and the United States in 2007 by Kogan Page
Limited
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or
criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act
1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form
or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in
the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms and licences
issued by the CLA. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside these terms should
be sent to the publishers at the undermentioned addresses:

120 Pentonville Road 525 South 4th Street, #241
London N1 9JN Philadelphia PA 19147
United Kingdom USA
www.kogan-page.co.uk
© Stuart Thomson and Steve John, 2007
The right of the authors to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted
by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
ISBN-10 0 7494 4472 X
ISBN-13 978 0 7494 4472 3
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Thomson, Stuart.
Public affairs in practice / Stuart Thomson and Steve John.
p. cm.
ISBN 0-7494-4472-X
1. Lobbying. 2. Pressure groups. I. John, Steve, 1972– II. Title.
JF1118.J64 2007
324'.4–cc22
2006016468
Typeset by JS Typesetting Ltd, Porthcawl, Mid Glamorgan
Printed and bound in Great Britain by MPG Books Ltd, Bodmin, Cornwall
Stuart would like to dedicate this book to Alex and William.
Steve would like to dedicate this book to his mother, Helen.
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Contents
Foreword by Senator George Mitchell xi
Foreword xiii
Preface xv
1. Introduction 1
Public affairs in practice 2
What is lobbying? 3
Lobbying or public affairs? 4
How the UK public affairs industry has changed 5
What difference does public affairs make? 7
Public affairs around the globe 8
Getting into public affairs 11
Early stages 14
Codes of conduct 15
Overall 16
2. The art of lobbying 19
Why lobby? 20
Monitoring 21
What do you want to do? 24
How policy is made in the UK 25
Policy 33
How to lobby 39
vii
Contents
Contact programme 40
Meetings 45
Local government 47
Scotland 48
Wales 50
Europe 51
Global institutions 55
General rules 57
3. Reputation and the media 63
Media relations 64
Crisis management 70
4. Managing issues 83
Get to the heart of the issue 83
Building the evidence 86
Think tanks 88
Economic consultancies 90
Business schools 91
Polling organizations 92
Building support 93
Conclusion 99
5. Stakeholder relations 105
The value of stakeholders 106
Identify your stakeholders 107
Understanding your stakeholders 109
Engaging your stakeholders 111
Planning communications 112
Summary 114
6. Corporate social responsibility 121
Definitions 122
Measuring CSR 123
The growth of CSR 124
Why CSR? 125
The role of government 128
Impact of CSR on public affairs 130
Conclusion 134
7. Conclusion 141
On a personal level 142
Future trends and developments 143
viii
Contents
Overall 146
Public affairs – a checklist 147
Appendix – codes of conduct 149
CIPR 149
APPC 150
PRCA 152
EPACA 154
EULobby.net 155
SEAP 158
Index 161
ix
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