Issue 2, 2007   

Civil Society in Brussels. More than a fig leaf excuse?

Roland Roth: Sucessful failure after 20 years? The democratic agenda of the Forschungsjournal Neue Soziale Bewegungen, FJ NSB 1/2009, pp 5-12.

The article sums up the most important aspects of Roland Roth`s speech referring to the 20th anniversary of the Forschungsjournal Neue Soziale Bewegungen. He describes the context, in which the journal was founded and analyzes the democratic impulses of the new social movements. He claims, that these positive impulses were not given enough attention by scholars and institutional protagonists. Due to that fact he is sceptical, if the gap between institutionalized politics and common citizens can be bridged.

Thomas Leif, Lobbying – Destroying Trust in Parliament, FJ NSB 1/2009, pp 13-22.

The author shows in how far the current way of lobbying is dangerous to democratic politics. Since scholars and public have neglected the danger for a long time, there developed a relation between politicians and lobbyists, which is quite close. This relation harms Parliament’s reputation. The resulting disdain for politics has to be overcome by straight rules. Politicians and public are more more conscious of the problem by now, but there is still a long way to go.

Christine Hohmann-Dennhardt, Lobbyists – Keep out? FJ NSB 1/2009, pp 23-31.

In this article the current culture of lobbying in Germany is described. The author concludes that the current way of lobbying tends to be more and more in conflict with a representative, parliamentary democracy. Since government is more and more dependent on external expertise and there are close personal relations, private interests gain more and more influence on politics. One has to dismiss the belief that only external expertise is good. Furthermore the media has to focus more on the close relations between politicians and lobbyists.

Gerd Mielke, Research on lobbying – perspectives and deficits, FJ NSB 1/2009, pp 32-39.

The author shows in how far there were major changes in the way of lobbying within the last years. Besides the associations, which dominated lobbying for a long time, there are more and more PR-agencies and companies doing their own lobbying. This development is caused by socio-economic processes. Due to this fact, the common scientific paradigms have to be reconsidered.

David Miller, Corrupting the rules of the game: from legitimate lobbying to capturing regulations and policies, FJ NSB 1/2009, pp 40-47.

The author shows how it was possible that lobbying became a major practice in the last years. He sees a direct link between the rise of lobbying and the rise o neoliberal thought. Furthermore he shows the different channels which are used by lobbyists to steer politics. He focuses on science capture, civil society capture and media capture.

Ulrich Müller, Jungle of lobbying in Brussels – few light, much twilight, FJ NSB 1/2009, pp 48-96.

The author analyzes the ETI, introduced by the European Comission in summer 2008 in order to make politics more transparent. The stages of the the process are discussed as well as several regulations. The author concludes that regulations fail, especially as registration to the register is voluntary.

Dietmar Jazbinsek, Corporate Social Responsibility: Ethics used for lobbying, FJ NSB 1/2009, pp 68-77.

In the article the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility is questioned, which is applied by more and more companies. Besides positive effects CSR is used to create a diffuse dependence of politics and avoid regulations. That CSR is also used for lobbying is also indicated by the fact that often communication departments are responsible for it.

Albrecht Ude, Lug und Trug – Online Greenwashing, FJ NSB 1/2009, pp 79-81.

The author describes the practices used by corporations to create a positive image of themselves in the web. He focuses on the six sins of greenwashing. Furthermore he appeals to the media, to deal with greenwashing more critically. Especially referring to sources from the web, journalists often do not check the authorship.

Christian Humborg, Transparency and lobbying, FJ NSB 1/2009, pp 82-80.

First it is shown, that it is now not only politicians which are blamed for negative effects of lobbying but the lobbyists, too. Afterwards the regulations are discussed, which have to be part of a well functioning register. But besides a register the consciousness of lobbyists is also a necessary element of transparent lobbying. Due to that, there must be a ethical codex for lobbyists besides a register.