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Money, Lobbying, and Policymaking

Module description

Policymakers across legislatures are affected to a largely unknown extent by the money that lobbyists spend pressuring politicians and keeping them in office. We will examine who these lobbyists are, how and when they get what they want from government, how they use money to support their efforts, and most importantly, the effect of lobbying and money on public policy outcomes. With particular focus on the US, but also investigating the role of outside interests in the UK, the EU, and European nations, in this module we will use play-acting simulations and data analysis techniques so that you can investigate for yourself the effects of money in policymaking.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module is intended to improve both (1) your understanding about politics and the forces that result in implemented public policies, and (2) your ability to critically evaluate research, news reports, and advocacy efforts. The aim is to enable you to assess for yourself the effects of pressure group money on politics and policymaking, having portrayed lobbyists and legislators in simulations, and analysed real data on the topic.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Critically assess the influence of lobbyists' direct and indirect expenditures on policymaking;
• 2. Demonstrate understanding of the role pressure groups and lobbyists play in policymaking, particularly in the US;

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. Use simple statistical methods to analyse data and model political behaviour;
• 4. Critically evaluate political science research according to its assumptions, methods, and conclusions;

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 5. Increase confidence in approaching professional colleagues with ideas and suggesting collaborations;
• 6. Improve writing skills through multiple iterations, peer review, and practice writing in the role of a professional, rather than a student; and
• 7. Demonstrate capacity to be persuasive.

Syllabus plan

Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:

the purpose of interest groups, what lobbying is and how it is done, laws that regulate lobbying and money in the US and other countries, current research on lobbying and policymaking, case studies of lobbying and policymaking, and related topics.

Assignments involve writing strategic memos, identifying appropriate data and downloading it, simple quantitative analysis analysis using a statistics package, and class simulations of lobbying and policymaking.

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Students who miss simulation sessions will need to fictionalize them based on their understanding of course material.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Baumgartner and Leech, Basic Interests
• Baumgartner, Berry, Hojnacki, Kimball, and Leech, Lobbying and Policy Change
• Berry and Wilcox, The Interest Group Society
• E. E. Schattschneider, The Semisovereign People: A Realist's View of Democracy in America
• Panagopoulos and Schank, All Roads Lead to Congress
• Robert M. Alexander, The Classics of Interest Group Behavior
• Wolpe and Levine, Lobbying Congress
• Amy McKay, “Fundraising for Favors? Linking lobbyist-hosted fundraisers to legislative benefits.” Political Research Quarterly
• Austen-Smith and Wright, “Counteractive Lobbying.” American Political Science Review
• Chin, Bond, and Geva. “A foot in the door: An experimental study of PAC and constituency effects on access.” Journal of Politics
• David Lowery. “Why Do Organized Interests Lobby? A Multi-Goal, Multi-Context Theory of Lobbying.” Polity
• Denzau and Munger, “How Unorganized Interests Get Represented.” American Political Science Review
• Hall and Wayman, “Buying Time: Moneyed Interests and the Mobilization of Bias in Congressional Committees.” American Political Science Review
• Jennifer Nicoll Victor, “Strategic Lobbying.” American Politics Research

Key words search

American politics, policymaking, money in politics, lobbying