A normative approach on lobbying. Public policies and representation of interests in Argentina

• Author: Marisa Ramos Meneghetti,Gabriel Sadi
• Date: 01 May 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1907
• Published date: 01 May 2020

ACADEMIC PAPER

A normative approach on lobbying. Public policies and

representation of interests in Argentina

Gabriel Sadi

1

|Marisa Ramos Meneghetti

2

1

School of Communication Sciences,

Universidad Abierta Interamericana, Buenos

Aires, Argentina

2

School of Education and Communication

Sciences, Universidad del Salvador, Buenos

Aires, Argentina

Correspondence

Gabriel Sadi, School of Communication

Sciences, Universidad Abierta Interamericana,

954 Humberto I, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Email: gabriel.sadi@uai.edu.ar;

gabrielsadi72@gmail.com

Public policies and regulations need to broaden the voices represented in the deliber-

ation and search for solutions to societal problems. The practice of lobbying is a legit-

imate and legal way to reach public decision makers in order to contribute to a more

participatory and plural democracy despite its bad reputation. As a general character-

istic, Latin America still has shortcomings in the development of participatory democ-

racy. Due to the lack of an organized civic culture, resources, or ignorance, civil

society does not usually use planned methods for an effective exercise of the right

to petition public authorities and reduces its areas of incidence to sporadic demon-

strations around specific issues. However, it is possible to recognize certain key cases

promoted in Argentina by civil society organizations that have achieved their pur-

poses, such as laws related to eating disorders, equal marriage, and assisted

fertilization.

1|INTRODUCTION

Public affairs is the area of public relations that focuses on the field of

action in which lobbying is framed, a professional activity that defends

the legitimate interests of groups or companies before public adminis-

trations and transparently transfers relevant information and knowl-

edge about a sector, activity, or collective (Xifra, 1998, 2011).

In a terminological as well as conceptual approach, Ferrer (2014)

warns that, although the words lobbying and public affairs are often

used indistinctly, mainly in Spanish‐speaking countries, they are not

synonyms. To simplify, public affairs is more comprehensive because

includes sectoral analysis and intelligence, lobbying itself, all dialog

and communication with the different stakeholders of an organization

and the construction of alliances, delimiting lobbying to the incum-

bency over the exercise of influencing a public policy or legislative ini-

tiative. When indicating the context in which the application of public

affairs and lobbying strategies is necessary, Ferrer does not hesitate to

include nonprofit organizations because their function is the legitimate

defense of collective interests and the participation of civil society in

political and regulatory processes.

In this sense, lobbying is a communicative strategy of public rela-

tions (Davidson & Rowe, 2016) whose specificity lies in the public

receiving the message and in its purpose: to influence the spheres of

competence of executive and legislative branches at any scale, inter-

national, national, state, or local. In this way, the practice of lobbying,

also referred to as representing interests, implies effectively influenc-

ing executive and legislative branches of different jurisdiction and

becomes a legitimate and legal way to make the arguments of differ-

ent sectors of society reach public decision makers, in order to con-

tribute to a more participative and plural democracy, an aspect on

which we will place particular emphasis later on.

1.1 |The contribution of lobbying to the

strengthening of participatory democracy

Since the 1980s, Latin America has returned to the democratic path.

However, in many cases, it has been reduced to the periodic call to

elections and to the introduction of new constitutional mechanisms

of civic participation, which have not been sufficiently promoted nor

exercised by citizens. Consequently, as a general feature, our conti-

nent still has shortcomings in the development of its participatory

democracy. Due to the lack of an organized civic culture, resources,

or ignorance, civil society does not usually use planned methods and

suitable channels for an effective exercise of the right to petition pub-

lic authorities, right recognized in the Argentinian Constitution (Article

14) as well as in most Latin American countries and other democracies.

It is indisputable that governments have the power to decide on

legal norms, administrative acts, and public policies. However, civil

society should not delegate the development of a fairer and

Received: 11 November 2018 Accepted: 16 November 2018

DOI: 10.1002/pa.1907

J Public Affairs. 2019;e1907.

https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1907

© 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa 1of7

1

Department of Management,

Huddersfield Business School,

University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, UK

Gabriel Sadi, Department of Management,

Huddersfield Business School, University of

Huddersfield. Queensgate, Huddersfield,

United Kingdom HD1 3DH.

Email: g.sadi@hud.ac.uk

J Public Affairs.2020;20:e1907. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 1of7

https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1907