Lobbyists and The Legislative Process

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Lobbyists and the Legislative Process

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Table of Contents

Part A: The Plan of Investigation 3

Part B: Summary of Evidence 3

Part C: Evaluation of Sources 5

Part D: Analysis 6

Part E: Conclusion 8

Part F: Sources 9

Part A. Plan of Investigation

Research Question: To what degree are lobbyists’ successful at influencing the legislative process in Congress?

This investigation analyzes the influence of lobbyists on the legislative process in Congress. It is shown that influence is difficult to measure but with a variety of variables that come into play, it can be narrowed down. To examine how much influence lobbyists have over the legislative progress, this study focuses local political action studies and studies of the success of lobbyists in certain things they do.

The two sources that will be evaluated on their origins, purposes, values, and limitations are Citizen Lobbyists: Local Efforts to Influence Public Policy by Brain E. Adams and The Persuaders: When Lobbyists Matter by Steven John.

Part B. Summary of Evidence

Lobbying is used to influence public policy so it’s expected that people will want to measure the influence of the lobbyists on the legislative process. However, they have avoided it because of the fact that it’s troubling to measure the influence concept quantitatively (Mahoney 35; John 27). Some of the reasons for are that there are too many variables, assumptions about the effect of lobbying are flawed because studies have been unable to establish convincing counterfactuals such as what effect an organization would have on policy if lobbyists' activities were not performed, and that self-reports on inf...

... middle of paper ...

...eir goals. Overall it is difficult to truly measure quantitatively the influence of a lobbyist, although evidence from all sources prove that influence can go either way.

Works Cited

Adams, Brian E. Citizen Lobbyists: Local Efforts to Influence Public Policy. Philadelphia: Temple UP, 2007. Print.

John, Steve. The Persuaders: When Lobbyists Matter. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002. Print.

"Lobbyist & Lobbying. What Is a Lobbyist. What Does a Lobbyist Do?" Meyers & Associates. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.

Mahoney, Christine. "Lobbying Success in the United States and the European Union." Journal of Public Policy 27.01 (2007): 35-56. Print.

Pinkham, Doug. "Do Lobbyists Have Influence?" Public Affairs Council. 25 Aug. 2010. Web. 19 Apr. 2014.

Rogers, Jonathan. "An Experimental Investigation of Lobbying Strategies." (2012). Print.

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