Interest Groups (Political Science)

Lo que aquí se presenta es el resultado de hacer un seguimiento diario-analítico de la acción, en un segundo intervalo del gobierno federal mexicano 2018-2024, presidido por el Licenciado Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Cubre la etapa que va del 1 de diciembre 2019 al 27 de marzo de 2022. Es decir, desde su primer informe anual de gobierno, hasta su ratificación en consulta sobre revocación o no revocación de su mandato. Se publica en forma de epistolario (correspondencia y notas) del Dr. Xavier Gamboa Villafranca.
Cada pieza de información es unitaria en sí mísma. Tan pronto se produjo. fue publicada en facebook y en tres grupos selectos de whastapp. Además su respectivo  “encabezado” se integró al libro, también en proceso, sobre resurección de la humanidad en el año 3000.
El mencionado intervalo de tiempo fue seleccionado, básicamente debido a dos consideraciones:
i)En su transcurrir, se consolidan las operaciones de la cuarta transformación.  En la etapa que va de 1 diciembre 2018 a 1 de diciembre de 2019, se sentaron las bases legales, sociales,  económicas, políticas, ideológicas y técnicas mínimas necesarias. 
ii)Durante los siguientes  39 meses (2019/12/01 a 2022/03/21) se profundiza la  satisfacción de las necesidades humanas fundamentales, a escala nunca antes vista. En una coyuntura en que, por un lado está el antes, durante y despues de una emergencia social, por la pandemia del coronavirus.  Y, por el otro, la oposición derechista presiona infructuosamente, sobre todo ideológicamente, para intentar detener la Cuarta Transformación y hasta volver al régimen neoliberal. Además, en esta segunda etapa, sin llamarlo por su nombre, cobró progresiva vigencia el contenido de los 21 artículos del  consenso sobre la humanidad del tercer milenio. Queda demostrado por la praxis, retratada en este documento, del gobierno federal mexicano 2018-2024 que sin duda es el principal impulsor a nivel planetario de este proceso. 
Se toma como fuente prioiritaria de información primaria, la difundida amplamente por el Presidente López Obrador en sus conferencias diarias e informes sobre avances.  Obvia decir que el método de indagación corresponde al de la ciencia social cualitativa, aplicada al aestudio de la coyuntura. Particularmente, vía la aplicación de la técnica de anállisis de contenido, utilizando privilegiadamente el análisis inferencial de citas textxuales.
Las categorías empleadas para agrupar la información y presentar resultados del análisis inferencial, corresponden al articulado del Consenso sobre la Humanidad del Tercer Millenio:  Normas para planeta tierra y universo.  Se ha dejado el texto original de cada capítulo y artículo, para que quede constancia del documento completo, en el índice de contenido.

En mis escritos y publicaciones, me refiero frecuentemente a la estructura real que permite al poder plutocrático operar su férreo dominio sobre los habitantes del planeta tierra.  Pero... ¿Quienes la componen?  ¿Como funciona?  En otras palabras  (importando conceptos de la ciencia de la física y usándolos en el terreno de la sociología política) ¿cuál es la estática y la dinámica de esta estructura del pode?
Para responder a estas interrogantes, durante 2012-2013 coordiné un estudio exploratorio, de ciencia aplicada a describir e interpretar el funcionamiento de la estructura mundial del poder oligárquico.  La respuesta a la primera de las señaladas interrogantes, la he puesto a puesto a acceso libre y gratuito, en la presente publicación.
Son de mencionar, cuatro consideraciones: 
1)Los resultados que se exponen, están libres de polvo y paja; de ahí que su forma sea la de un paradigma.   
2) Es un documento organizado según nivel jerárquico ocupado en la estructura de poder plutocrático-mundial.
3)Toda la información aquí contenida se identificó, accesó y recopiló en fuentes PUBLICAS, de internet abierto.
4)Los nombres de organizaciones y personas se refieren al 2013; ojalá  que quienes se animen a aplicar el mismo método de abordaje, puedan actualizarlas, por ejemplo, para 2018 o el año en que resulte que esté recopilándose la información empírica.

The territory sovereignty is the integrity of a nation which has responsibility to govern and to manage that territory in order to keep its image in international’s view and to achieve its national interest. According to the international principle, such as principle of territory and principle of nation; there is not right for the other states to intervene the sovereignty of others. In this paper, the writer would like to interpret the conflict of Russia and Ukraine toward territory sovereignty of Crimea, by analyzing the historical background of Crimea, both countries’ interests toward Crimea. Crimea the jure is belonging to Ukraine but the facto is belonging to Russia. The writer would like to offer a draft resolution toward this conflict.
Key Words; Sovereignty, Conflict, Draft Resolutions.

El año pasado Grijalbo publicó el libro “4T, claves para descifrar el rompecabezas”. Sin duda alguna, esta colección de 17 ensayos coordinada por Blanca Heredia y Hernán Gómez Bruera constituye un excelente esfuerzo para tratar de entender lo que es la 4T. En lo personal lo recomiendo ampliamente, sobre todo porque este libro será un punto de referencia obligado para saber en realidad qué fue aquello que de repente se apareció en el horizonte político del país, liderado por un hombre que llega a la presidencia de la República después de dos intentonas y con una organización política que asemeja más a un movimiento político baby que a un partido político. Los académicos estudiosos del régimen político mexicano allá por 2027 agradecerán enormemente la publicación de la iniciativa de Blanca y Hernán...

Qui dirige l’économie ? Qui détient le pouvoir de décision dans ce domaine ? Quelles sont les limites de ce pouvoir ? Ce Dossier tente d’apporter des réponses à ces questions en passant en revue les différents acteurs intervenant dans la sphère économique, l’étendue de leur capacité d’influence et les modes d’exercice de leur pouvoir.

Parmi les acteurs économiques, les groupes d’entreprises, plus encore que les entreprises, représentent le pouvoir économique par excellence. Avec l’internationalisation et la financiarisation de l’économie, ils contribuent à accentuer la concentration des richesses. Par l’utilisation et l’affectation de leurs ressources, ils constituent par ailleurs des acteurs capables d’influencer la décision politique. Les rapports qu’ils entretiennent avec les États et leurs composantes deviennent manifestement de plus en plus déséquilibrés.

Outre l’intervention des pouvoirs publics dans l’économie, ce Dossier aborde d’autres acteurs (syndicats, associations de consommateurs, médias ou organisations militantes) qui, dans un rôle secondaire mais non négligeable, tentent de peser sur la décision des détenteurs du pouvoir économique.

The policy cycle framework originates from the idea of organizing and ordering the complexity of policymaking. It is a heuristic tool through which different stages of the ongoing and never-ending dynamics of policy processes can be segmented and then analyzed. It was originally proposed by Lasswell (1956), the founder of modern policy analysis and public policy, and is still considered one of the essentials in the conceptual toolbox of policy scholars. The policy cycle – also called the “stages approaches to policy process” (De Leon, 1999) – does not have any explanatory relevance and is thus not at the theoretical core of public policy (where there is a richness of different theoretical frameworks). However, it is a powerful conceptual tool to simplify and make “workable” the complexity of policymaking. Overall, it holds a relevant descriptive capacity that is still useful, despite many critics having underlined that it risks oversimplifying the interconnected and intertwined density of the policy process flux. The cycle is usually divided into five stages: agenda setting, formulation, decision-making, implementation, and evaluation.

Understanding why the politics of climate change are contentious requires examining the structural barriers which make it so hard for humanity to stop burning fossil fuels and adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Why-despite the credible scientific assessments and reputable organizations highlighting the dire threat from climate change-does humanity show undiminished enthusiasm for fossil fuel extraction and the lifestyles it facilitates?

El presente Volumen XV tiene 1,500 páginas. Está organizado por fecha, con agrupación  por mes.  Abarca el texto completo de las conferencias de prensa matutinas que el Presidente Andrés Manuel López Obrador encabezó, entre el 21 de marzo de 2021 y el 1 de julio de 2022.  El periodo inicia con el acto de entrega-recepción del Aeropuerto Internacional Felipe Angeles de la Ciudad  de México. Llega hasta el día del cuarto aniversario del triunfo en las urnas el 1 de julio de 2018.  Se trata del  primer periodo, de una nueva etapa de cosecha de los frutos de los principales proyectos infraestructurales del sexenio. 
El Volumen I (01 Enero a 30 noviembre 2018) está en https://www.academia.edu/40861116/ .  El Volumen  II (2018 12 01 a  2019 03 11) está disponible gratuitamente en https://www.academia.edu/40757230/  .  El volumen III (2019 03 12 a  2019 06 30), se puede accesar en  https://www.academia.edu/40798502/  .  El volumen IV cubre del 01 julio 2019 a  31 de agosto 2019 y se puede accesar en línea en https://www.academia.edu/40809905/  .  A su vez, el volumen V (01 septiembre 2019 a  30 noviembre 2019) está en https://www.academia.edu/40861296/ .  El volumen VI está en  (1 diciembre 2019 a 1 julio 2020) se encuentra también disponible en línea https://www.academia.edu/42261557/ .  Las versiones estenográfica y en sólo audio, Volumen VII y anteriores, se pueden descargar gratuitamente en internet gratuito  https://www.academia.edu/43454031/. El Volumen VIII está en el sitio URL https://www.academia.edu/44202516/  .  Está disponible el texto completo de los volumenes IX (https://www.academia.edu/44421755/), X (https://www.academia.edu/44821158), XI (https://www.academia.edu/45558118/), XII  (https://www.academia.edu/49500039), XIII  (https://www.academia.edu/61951874/) y el XIV (https://www.academia.edu/63200156/).
Los habitantes de México y planeta tierra ya han caído en cuenta de que pueden ayudar a preservar la memoria histórica del avane de la 4T, en su etapa de arranque.  Para empezar, en propia computadora, cada quien podría organizar y mantener actualizada una base de datos de las cátedras-conferencias presidenciales diarias de AMLO.  Y ahora no hay duda:  es sólo cuestión de querer hacerlo.  Es posible tener acceso, en un solo sitio url, a la lista de reproducción completa de los videos de  todas y cada una de las cátedras-conferencias presidenciales diarias, hasta la fecha y a partir de que inciaron el 4 de diciembre de 2018.    https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRnlRGar-_296KTsVL0R6MEbpwJzD8ppA    Además, las versiones estenográficas de todas la conferencias-cátedras presidenciales y de otros actos públicos del presidente AMLO, están disponibles en un sólo sitio URL.  https://lopezobrador.org.mx/transcripciones/  En cada una de ellas, está su respectiva grabación en sólo audio; he hecho ya su respectivo acopio y organización.   
Este estado de cosas justifica el compendiar, de la forma que mas amigablemente permita que funcione como base de datos, la vasta mayoría de los textos que recogen las palabra de AMLO en sus actos públicos.  Hay que hacer algunas puntualizaciones:

1)Esta base de datos se puede usar, impresa en papel o en formato electrónico.  Es preferible echar mano de lo segundo, pues al estar presentado en word u odt; y en PDF;  se facilita enormemente la localización de términos o palabra clave, en las 1,809 páginas de que consta este volumen XI.
2)Se presenta de esta manera, pensando en que se hará análisis de contenido tradicional:  cita textual, inferencia, conexión con indicadores y variables que se desea investigar conforme a métodos cualitativos de las ciencias sociales.
3)No se han incluído, a propósito, los discursos de AMLO pronunciados en eventos que por facilidad analítica aquí llamamos “reiterativos”.

Xavier Gamboa Villafranca
1 de julio de 2022.

The present study attempts to identify and characterise some basic principles that underlined  historical  development  in ancient  Egypt,  specifically  during  the  Old Kingdom period. Looking at the ever-increasing corpus of the evidence, it applies the theory of punctuated equilibrium for explaining some of the major features operating human society in a diachronic perspective. The explanatory potential of the punctuated equilibrium concept seems to work rather well when applied to the historical evidence we have at hand. As a consequence, Old Kingdom history is not any more a rather homogenous continuum represented by individual pharaohs and monuments arranged into a regular evolutionary scheme; on the contrary, it emerges as an intricate open system punctuated by several historically brief “events” during which major changes in society took place and which were divided by longer periods of stasis, a continuum with seemingly no significant development. The Old Kingdom era emerges as an open system in which the specific role of the individual in specific historical circumstances is able to significantly enhance our understanding of new discoveries, historical facts, and known contexts.

The  emerging concept  of historical  development  outlined  above can  be, in my view, successfully applied for a description of some of the irregularities which once governed the development of ancient Egyptian society during the Od Kingdom. Stephen Jay Gould and Nils Eldridge in the early 1970s formulated a new theory, describing the nature of processes encountered in evolutionary biology. It was a theory that explained some formerly incomprehensible patterns in the distribution of fossil remains over a long period of time. They concluded, due to a lack of other evidence, that instead of an evolutionary linear concept, one may well apply a theory of punctuated equilibria. This appeared to be a much more suitable explanation for the observed phenomena.
In simplified terms, the original concept of “punctuated equilibria” means that species (following the original studies of Eldridge and Gould) continue to exist in an apparently balanced way, punctuated by major individual events introducing  crucial  changes  within  that  basic species, or group evolution. These major developmental changes tend to happen in certain discrete peri- ods of time divided by rather uneventful  periods of stasis when no significant development takes place.
If we look now at the data which we have analyzed for the Old Kingdom, we can see that a similar “punctuated” pattern emerges. The explanatory potential of the punctuated equilibrium concept seems to work quite well when applied to Old Kingdom history. There is every reason to believe that it can be applied to other periods as well. The results given above have proven to have had a significant bearing on how we can now view Old Kingdom history. With regard to the Old Kingdom, it seems to be appropriate to assume that the evidence at our disposal is rich enough and sufficiently heterogenous to allow for such a theory, thus avoiding the risk of coming to speculative conclusions.
In my opinion, Old Kingdom history should no longer be considered as a rather homogenous continuum represented by individual pharaohs and monuments arranged into a regular evolutionary scheme: on the contrary, it emerges as an intricate open system in which several historical individuals embedded in specific historical contexts managed considerably greater achievements than others. It would certainly deserve a detailed study if the “events” must always be connected to a historical personage. For the time being, this seems to be the most probable context.
Equally powerful can be the concept of punctuated equilibrium when applied to an analysis of the development, rise and fall of any given complex society—as it has done in the case of the history of Old Kingdom Egypt. The fact that we can bind specific innovations to specific historical circumstances and embed them in a particular historical context lets us detect more satisfactorily the decisive turns in the development of any given society.
  In this particular case we can see without any significant bias that factors that formerly initiated dramatic success of the ancient Egyptian state gradually transmuted into negative ones that contributed to the decline and eventual collapse of the Old Kingdom. Thus the roots of principal internal factors contributing to a system’s ultimate demise can be detected already in the formative stage of the system. Their former positive feedback eventually turns them into factors that usher in a crisis of the system. At the same time, it is the shortening and eventually total disappearance of the equilibrium periods which is indicative of the approaching collapse of the current state of affairs.

The multiplier effect, coupled with the concept of punctuated equilibrium, represent tools with which it is possible to better understand the nature of some traditional phenomena in history. Moreover, this concept provides a rather different perspective from the former notion of history as a continuous uninterrupted current of more or less isolated events.

The literature on EU integration gives no clear answer as to where real decision-making power in the EU is situated. Which stakeholders are the most influential when major decisions are made, for example? An approach held to have considerable explanatory potential for EU policies in general, and potentially for climate and energy policy in particular, is the advocacy coalition framework (ACF). However, few studies have applied ACF together with other theories/frameworks, such as liberal intergovernmentalism (LI) and historical institutionalism (HI), to assess the degree to which various stakeholders involved at the EU level manage to achieve their preferences. Using the EU’s new 2030 headline climate and energy policy targets as a case of EU climate and energy policy, this study asks: how can we explain the outcome of negotiations in the EU, as exemplified in the 2030 negotiations? Drawing on more than 30 research interviews with representatives of key stakeholders conducted before and after the final political negotiations, combined with extensive document studies and participation in stakeholder events, this report argues that the result appears to be a genuine compromise for all stakeholders involved. Findings confirm the Commission’s importance as an agenda setter (HI) and the crucial role and positions of heavyweight member states like Germany, France, the UK and Poland (LI), which were probably affected by their key energy industries and long-term energy policies. The study also finds large long-term advocacy coalitions within the interest group community (ACF). Moreover, the final decision may be viewed as negotiated compromise between advocacy coalitions at various levels (ACF), but only when the ACF criterion of nontrivial degree of coordination is not very rigorously operationalized.

The first edition of the university textbook Political Parties and Interest Groups by the authors Prof. Savo Klomovski (PhD) and Prof. Tanja Karakamiseva (PhD) was published in 2007. Nine years later, in April 2016, a reformed and supplemented edition of this work has been published by the authors Prof. Savo Klimovski (PhD), Prof. Tanja Karakamiseva (PhD), and lecturer Aleksandar Spasenovski (PhD).

This work is primarily intended for the students of Political Science at the Law Faculty Iustinianus Primus in Skopje, as well as for other students from other universities in the country who study this exquisitely significant issue as part of their courses. Besides that, this textbook corresponds to the curricula of the faculties of law, journalism, public administration, public relations, as well as other similar academic areas. Of course, considering the aims of each high education textbook, we trust this edition will be of use to all professionals outside the universities who deal with, or are interested in, issues related to political parties and interest groups.
The authors truly believe that this textbook will provide additional clarifications and will bring this complex and multi layered topic closer to all concerned individuals. Of course, despite the systematic approach and the proper diligence in exposing each of the topics there is an opportunity for this complex and infinite area to be explored further, which will only enrich and ennoble this work in the editions to come.

El presente Volumen VII tiene 1,916 páginas, organizadas por fecha y agrupadas por mes.  Abarca el texto completo de las conferencias de prensa matutinas  que el Presidente Andrés Manuel López Obrador encabezó, entre el 18 de marzo de 2020 y el 01 de julio de 2020.    Es el periodo comprendido y el discurso pronunciado en la Torre de Pemex y el informe del segundo año luego del éxito electoral el mismo día, pero de 2018.    Es el primer periodo, de la etapa de operación inicial fincada sobre hidrocarburos refinándose en México, para consumo interno e incluso para exportación. 
El Volumen I (01 Enero a 30 noviembre 2018) está en https://www.academia.edu/40861116/ .  El Volumen  II (2018 12 01 a  2019 03 11) está disponible gratuitamente en https://www.academia.edu/40757230/  .  El volumen III (2019 03 12 a  2019 06 30), se puede accesar en  https://www.academia.edu/40798502/  .  El volumen IV cubre del 01 julio 2019 a  31 de agosto 2019 y se puede accesar en línea en https://www.academia.edu/40809905/  .  A su vez, el volumen V ( 01 septiembre 2019 a  30 noviembre 2019) está en https://www.academia.edu/40861296/ .  El volumen VI está en  (1 diciembre 2019 a 1 julio 2020) se encuentra también disponible en línea https://www.academia.edu/42261557/ 
Los habitantes de México y planeta tierra ya han caído en cuenta de que pueden ayudar a preservar la memoria histórica del avance de la 4T, en su etapa de arranque.  Para empezar, en propia computadora, cada quien podría organizar y mantener actualizada una base de datos de las cátedras-conferencias presidenciales diarias de AMLO.  Y ahora no hay duda:  es sólo cuestión de querer hacerlo.  Es posible tener acceso, en un solo sitio url, a la lista de reproducción completa de los videos de  todas y cada una de las cátedras-conferencias presidenciales diarias, hasta la fecha y a partir del 4 de diciembre de 2018.    https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRnlRGar-_296KTsVL0R6MEbpwJzD8ppA    Además, las versiones estenográficas de todas la conferencias-cátedras presidenciales y de otros actos públicos del presidente AMLO, están disponibles en un sólo sitio URL.  https://lopezobrador.org.mx/transcripciones/  En cada una de ellas, está su respectiva grabación en sólo audio; he hecho ya su respectivo acopio y organización.   
Este estado de cosas justifica el compendiar, de la forma que mas amigablemente permita que funcione como base de datos, la vasta mayoría de los textos que recogen las palabra de AMLO en sus actos públicos.  Hay que hacer algunas puntualizaciones:
1)Esta base de datos se puede usar, impresa en papel o en formato electrónico.  Es preferible echar mano de lo segundo, pues al estar presentado en word u odt; y en PDF;  se facilita enormemente la localización de términos o palabra clave, en las 2001 páginas de que consta este voumen VII.
2)Se presenta de esta manera, pensando en que se hará análisis de contenido tradicional:  cita textual, inferencia, conexión con indicadores y variables que se desea investigar conforme a métodos cualitativos de las ciencias sociales.
3)No se han incluído, a propósito, los discursos de AMLO pronunciados en eventos que por facilidad analítica aquí llamamos “reiterativos”.

This dissertation examines the role of external experts in local agenda setting. The study conducts on archival research on three components of Oklahoma City’s Metropolitan Area Projects programs, specifically education, indoor arenas, and convention centers. The decline in local leadership (especially regimes), an increased demand for complex amenities, and the emergence of a trans-urban policy network provide outside actors with agenda setting power. Evidence suggests that agenda setting for urban revitalization has shifted from “inside-out” to an “outside-in” model since the 1980s. Formerly urban leaders would request assistance for specific tactics aimed at urban revitalization; contemporary urban leaders articulate larger objectives to consultants but rely on advice to determine specific programs. A constellation of advocacy coalitions fill niches within the city building policy network, but no central actor organizes their activity. Although urban leaders may rely on outside actors for agenda items, local leaders retain the ability to determine the physical distribution and interaction of infrastructure, which impacts the efficacy of urban revitalization projects.

The aim of this chapter is to analyze the relationship between the economic elite and Italian fascism during the dictatorship years. This relationship was fundamental in fascism’s rise to power and in the subsequent effort to stabilize the regime.
The expansionist and “imperial” aims of fascism attached importance to an economic-elite role: only an industrially powerful State could yearn to be a great power on the international political scene. Meanwhile, the Italian economy’s structural constraints (raw materials and capital shortage, national budget deficit, decreasing international trade) could potentially limit the ability to reach political targets.
Mussolini, though not an expert in the field of economics and lacking in technical competence, followed, daily and resolutely, the evolution of economic difficulties. His determination and attention testifies to the importance that “il Duce” gave to those problems.
Fascism’s compromise with the economic elite originated not only from the requirements of political stabilization or social consensus but also from the awareness that without it fascism couldn’t overcome the Italian economy’s structural constraints and, therefore, realize its political aims.
To deal with the relationship between political power and the economic elite in the fascist regime we can’t restrict ourselves to using concepts such as consensus/dissent, complicity/opposition, exchange, negotiations and dealing. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be possible to explain why the great depression years was the period of highest allegiance by the economic elite with Fascism, in spite of the very bad performance of industrial and finance companies. From the moment of the revaluation of lira at “quota 90” in the middle of the Twenties – the beginning of a fascist economic policy – the relationship between economic and political power was determined not only by negotiations exchange of favours and self-interest but also by deeper and more lasting factors such as:
a) a common repulsion of industrial disputes that made possible a social equilibrium guaranteed by fascism, based on low wage levels and abrogation of strikes and freedom in union organization;
b) a change in hierarchy and balance between companies e between economic sectors during the Twenties and Thirties, a result of fascist government intervention and not only of economic and social process;
c) the growing entwinement of leaders of the National Fascist Party (Partito nazionale fascista), union leaders, public corporation bureaucracy and private company management, caused by decreasing market power and growing public expenditure;
d) the development of a “corporatist” way of interaction between State and economic interest, based on direct participation of unions and employers’ associations in public policy;
e) a cultural and ideological background shared both by fascist leaders and members of the economic elite (nationalism, colonialism, protectionism, strict hierarchy between social classes).
The chapter’s objective is to offer an in-depth analysis of these themes. In this way, it aims to offer a general interpretation of the allegiance of the elite to the dictatorship and then to enlighten on how fascism governed a modern industrial society like Italy and how the economic elite influenced choices and decisions of dictatorship.

Ph.D. thesis Economic History, Uppsala University

In 1971, the Swedish parliament approved a government bill that introduced extensive state regulation of marketing. Because of this, the business community’s self-regulation of advertising, which until then had dominated regulation, became obsolete. While self-regulation initially was a minor operation, by the time it was overtaken by state policies in 1971, it included several interlocking systems. This has been the point of departure for the analysis of this thesis – how can these profound regime transitions in this private form of marketing regulation of postwar Swedish advertising be understood? To uncover the agency behind the changes, analytical focus has been on the business interest organizations that controlled self-regulation and their regulatory strategies. Results show that organizations of advertisers, and to lesser degree media carriers, due to higher levels of exposure to regulation and public badwill, successfully supported stronger market regulation, while those representing the less exposed ad agencies, as well as a peak industry organization for marketing, long opposed such measures, preferring a more lenient regulation. However, due to increased exposure in the 1960s and growing negative views on advertising in public and politics, the ad agencies abandoned their opposition and, shortly before the coming of the state regime, spearheaded regulatory innovation through their introduction of an extensive publishing clearance program for advertising. This program inspired similar efforts among advertisers and media carriers, contributing greatly to business avoiding a complete state takeover of marketing regulation, and instead laying the foundation for the co-regulatory structure that followed.

The first edition of the university textbook Political Parties and Interest Groups by the authors Prof. Savo Klomovski (PhD) and Prof. Tanja Karakamiseva (PhD) was published in 2007. Nine years later, in April 2016, a reformed and supplemented edition of this work has been published by the authors Prof. Savo Klimovski (PhD), Prof. Tanja Karakamiseva (PhD), and lecturer Aleksandar Spasenovski (PhD).

This work is primarily intended for the students of Political Science at the Law Faculty Iustinianus Primus in Skopje, as well as for other students from other universities in the country who study this exquisitely significant issue as part of their courses. Besides that, this textbook corresponds to the curricula of the faculties of law, journalism, public administration, public relations, as well as other similar academic areas. Of course, considering the aims of each high education textbook, we trust this edition will be of use to all professionals outside the universities who deal with, or are interested in, issues related to political parties and interest groups.

The textbook Political Parties and Interest Groups consists of five parts.

The authors truly believe that this textbook will provide additional clarifications and will bring this complex and multi layered topic closer to all concerned individuals. Of course, despite the systematic approach and the proper diligence in exposing each of the topics there is an opportunity for this complex and infinite area to be explored further, which will only enrich and ennoble this work in the editions to come.

"Corruption has become one of the most popular topics in the social scientific disciplines. However, there is a lack of interdisciplinary communication about corruption. Models developed by different
academic disciplines are often isolated from each other. The purpose of this paper is to review several major approaches to corruption and draw them closer to each other. Most studies of corruption fall
into three major categories: (i) rational-actor models where corruption is viewed as resulting from cost/benefit analysis of individual actors; (ii) structural models that focus on external forces that determine corruption; and (iii) relational models that emphasize social interactions and networks among corrupt actors. Focusing on actors’ behavior and the social context, this article explains corruption concepts taken from sociology, economics, organization studies, political science, social anthropology, and social psychology."

Interests play an important role in all modern political systems. But the forms in which interests are articulated very much depend on the context of the particular case. Accordingly, this chapter reviews at the outset various definitions of interest associations that have been used by comparativists across the globe. Comparative studies of interest associations have also been inspired by different theories of interest politics. Therefore, the chapter also includes a review of the origins and legacies of competing theoretical traditions in the field, namely republicanism, pluralism, and neo-corporatism. At last, the final sections of the chapter discuss the role of interest associations in practice, distinguishing different types of action that are available to different interest associations, namely direct lobbying, political exchange, contentious politics, and private interest government.

El presente Volumen VIII tiene 1,691 páginas, organizadas por fecha y agrupadas por mes.  Abarca el texto completo de las conferencias de prensa matutinas  que el Presidente Andrés Manuel López Obrador encabezó, entre el 01 de julio de 2020 y el 02 de joctubre de ee año.    Es el periodo comprendido entre el discurso pronunciado al conmemorar dos años de la victoria en los sufragios del 1 de julio de 2018, hasta la alocución presidencial del 2 de octubre de 2020, en la ceremonia luctuosa conmemorativa de los acontecimientos del mismo día, pero de 1968.  Es el segundo periodo, de la etapa de operación inicial fincada sobre hidrocarburos refinándose en México, para consumo interno e incluso para exportación. 
El Volumen I (01 Enero a 30 noviembre 2018) está en https://www.academia.edu/40861116/ .  El Volumen  II (2018 12 01 a  2019 03 11) está disponible gratuitamente en https://www.academia.edu/40757230/  .  El volumen III (2019 03 12 a  2019 06 30), se puede accesar en  https://www.academia.edu/40798502/  .  El volumen IV cubre del 01 julio 2019 a  31 de agosto 2019 y se puede accesar en línea en https://www.academia.edu/40809905/  .  A su vez, el volumen V (01 septiembre 2019 a  30 noviembre 2019) está en https://www.academia.edu/40861296/ .  El volumen VI está en  (1 diciembre 2019 a 1 julio 2020) se encuentra también disponible en línea https://www.academia.edu/42261557/ .  Las versiones estenográfica y en sólo audio, del Volumen VII, se pueden descargar gratuitamente en internet gratuito  https://www.academia.edu/43454031/ .
Los habitantes de México y planeta tierra ya han caído en cuenta de que pueden ayudar a preservar la memoria histórica del avance de la 4T, en su etapa de arranque.  Para empezar, en propia computadora, cada quien podría organizar y mantener actualizada una base de datos de las cátedras-conferencias presidenciales diarias de AMLO.  Y ahora no hay duda:  es sólo cuestión de querer hacerlo.  Es posible tener acceso, en un solo sitio url, a la lista de reproducción completa de los videos de  todas y cada una de las cátedras-conferencias presidenciales diarias, hasta la fecha y a partir de que inciaron el 4 de diciembre de 2018.    https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRnlRGar-_296KTsVL0R6MEbpwJzD8ppA    Además, las versiones estenográficas de todas la conferencias-cátedras presidenciales y de otros actos públicos del presidente AMLO, están disponibles en un sólo sitio URL.  https://lopezobrador.org.mx/transcripciones/  En cada una de ellas, está su respectiva grabación en sólo audio; he hecho ya su respectivo acopio y organización.   
Este estado de cosas justifica el compendiar, de la forma que mas amigablemente permita que funcione como base de datos, la vasta mayoría de los textos que recogen las palabra de AMLO en sus actos públicos.  Hay que hacer algunas puntualizaciones:
1)Esta base de datos se puede usar, impresa en papel o en formato electrónico.  Es preferible echar mano de lo segundo, pues al estar presentado en word u odt; y en PDF;  se facilita enormemente la localización de términos o palabra clave, en las 2001 páginas de que consta este voumen VIII.
2)Se presenta de esta manera, pensando en que se hará análisis de contenido tradicional:  cita textual, inferencia, conexión con indicadores y variables que se desea investigar conforme a métodos cualitativos de las ciencias sociales.
3)No se han incluído, a propósito, los discursos de AMLO pronunciados en eventos que por facilidad analítica aquí llamamos “reiterativos”.

Much evidence suggests that interest groups not only respond to but also try to shape public opinion. So far, however, we know little about the effectiveness of these attempts. I present an argument that suggests that contrary to party cues, interest group cues matter little for individual attitudes. By contrast, the frames conveyed by interest groups have the potential to shape public opinion. This effect is moderated by frame strength, people's prior information about a policy, the strength of general attitudes relevant to a topic and personality traits. I test these expectations relying on a survey experiment on the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. The resulting evidence strongly supports the presence of framing effects. Moreover, these effects are largely moderated as expected. By contrast, interest group cues turn out to have no effect on individual attitudes. These findings have important implications for the normative evaluation of elite influence on public opinion.

Dieser Beitrag vermittelt Grundwissen, um für einen Verband Lobbying-Konzepte zu erstellen. Er regt zunächst dazu an, über Lobbyarbeit als Politikberatung und das dafür nötige Selbstverständnis nachzudenken. Er stellt Lobbychancen im institutionellen Kontext vor, gibt einen Überblick der Kommunikationsinstrumente und schließt mit einem Blick auf die rechtliche Regulierung. Nicht erörtert werden hier Lobby-begleitende Öffentlichkeitsarbeit, Kampagnen und weitere Verbandskommunikation (dazu weitere Kapitel im selben Buch) oder Schnittstellen zu Mitgliedermanagement, Themen- und Rechtsstrategien, Kooperationen und Auftragsvergaben an Dienstleister. –
Lobbying, hier als projektbezogene Einflussnahme auf konkrete Ziele bei einer staatlichen Entscheidung vorgestellt, ist für viele Verbände Routine – und andere Neuland. Längst nicht alle Verbände verstehen sich als Profitruppe politischer Interessenorganisation, an der niemand vorbeiregieren soll und die täglich im politischen Zentrum stehen. Ihnen stehen Verbände gegenüber, die „an der Peripherie politischer Tauschprozesse angesiedelt“ sind. Aber alle Verbände haben die Chance auf Teilhabe an der Verbändedemokratie, wenn sie den kleinen Lobby-Werkzeugkasten öffnen wollen. Die Voraussetzung für politische Wirksamkeit ist für alle gleich: innerverbandliche Willensbildung. Die Mitglieder müssen ein vitales Interesse daran haben, einen politischen Willen zu bilden und ihm allgemeinverbindlich Geltung zu verschaffen. Regierende hören Verbänden nicht nur zu, weil sie Fachwissen bündeln und filtern. Das ist wichtig – aber ersetzbar. Das Einbinden von Verbänden ist für sie vorteilhaft, weil Verbände politische Kräfte, Interessen und Meinungen ihrer Mitglieder bündeln und filtern.
Diese Einflusschancen muss ein Verband aktiv bewirtschaften. Dazu gehört, robusten Wettbewerb und Risiken zu ertragen. Denn selbst ausgezeichnetes Lobbying garantiert keinen Durchsetzungserfolg. Ist ein Verband politisch ambitioniert und dauerhaft engagiert, muss er Wissen, Kontaktnetze, Fähigkeiten und Führungsqualität Schritt für Schritt aufbauen. Der ideale Lobbyist ist ein „Politikversteher“, der die Eigenarten des politischen Betriebs lesen kann und serviceorientierte Politikberatung auf den Marktplatz bringt. Nicht jeder im Hauptamt und Ehrenamt ist fähig, fachliche Expertise mit politischer Intelligenz und Dialogfähigkeit zu koppeln. Auch die Selbststeuerung der Facharbeitskreise, in denen sich Mitglieder engagieren, ist mit taktischen Ansprüchen der Lobbyarbeit meist überfordert. Planen und lenken muss das Verbandsmanagement. Trotzdem ist Lobbying kein Einzelsport, sondern Teamaufgabe. Auch strikte Zentralisierung in der Geschäftsstelle ist nicht ratsam. Vielmehr gilt es, Lobbyaufgaben klug im Haupt- und Ehrenamt zu verteilen, gezielt Mitglieder in Hauptstadt- oder Wahlkreis-Projekte einzubeziehen und die kollektive Leistung als Lobby intern laufend zu vermitteln. Schließlich zahlen Mitglieder dafür Beiträge. Hier liegt auch eine Aufgabe für das Verbandsmarketing, Wahrnehmungsdefizite zu schließen und politisch wirksame Lobbykraft zum Teil der Verbandsmarke zu machen.

Astroturf lobbying refers to the simulation of grassroots support for or against a public policy. The objective of this tactic is for private interests to pretend they have public support for their cause. However, omitting to disclose the real sponsor of a message renders the communication unauthentic and undermines democratic and pluralist values. This article seeks to develop a method to detect astroturf movements based on emphasis framing analysis. The hypothesis is that astroturf groups employ different frames than genuine grassroots movements to comply with the private interests they truly represent. The results of the case study on the shale gas exploration debate in the United States show that astroturf groups used frames that differed significantly from authentic non-governmental organizations, which allowed their detection.

Cet ouvrage, résultat de quinze années d’enquêtes, aborde aussi bien la formation des lobbyistes que les scandales médiatisés. Il souhaite, en cinq temps, dépassionner le débat en apportant des réponses aux questions que se posent les journalistes, les hommes politiques ou les citoyens : « combien sont-ils ? », « sont-ils influents ? », etc.
Les cinq temps de l’ouvrage suivent la progression de l’invention du lobbying en France. Le premier revient sur la fabrication d’un problème autour du lobbying dans la vie politique française et explique comment l’équation lobbying/corruption a été inventée. Le deuxième temps permet de comprendre comment les français ont été amenés à parler d’histoires de lobbying alors que le mot ne renvoyait qu’à des phénomènes américains avant les années 1950. Cette conversion ne signifie pas que le lobbying soit admis. Au contraire, le plus souvent, il irrite, énerve et alimente la critique du système politique.
Les troisième et quatrième temps portent sur les lobbyistes eux-mêmes et présentent les résultats obtenus grâce aux enquêtes menées sur 717 lobbyistes et 155 cabinets conseil. Cette approche permet de comprendre comment le lobbying est devenu un marché dans la vie politique et comment ces professionnels se concurrencent et s’opposent. Enfin, le dernier temps se confronte à la question la plus difficile : en quoi les lobbyistes sont-ils influents ?
À l’heure où la France se dote de la première loi se donnant comme objectif de réguler le lobbying, cet ouvrage apporte un éclairage nouveau sur ce phénomène qui n’a, à ce jour, jamais fait l’objet de telles enquêtes.

Per lungo tempo, la scienza politica italiana ha dedicato scarsa attenzione allo studio dei gruppi di interesse e del lob-bying. Tuttavia, negli ultimi anni, questa tendenza è andata largamente attenuandosi, e la conoscenza a disposizione degli studiosi è certamente più ampia e dettagliata che non qualche anno fa. Questo saggio si propone di sistematizza-re la più recente letteratura sull’argomento, tratteggiandone gli aspetti peculiari e presentando le evidenze empiriche più illuminanti. In aggiunta, in queste pagine ci si vuole interrogare su quanto e come l’instabilità che pare connotare il sistema politico italiano da quasi trent’anni a questa parte abbia influito su dinamiche della rappresentanza che, nel corso del precedente quarantennio, erano invece rimaste sostanzialmente immutate ed immutabili. La destrutturazione del sistema partitico e la trasformazione della forma-partito, l’accresciuta centralità dei governi e di chi li guida, la crescente influenza dei vincoli sopranazionali, la sempre più evidente frammentazione del sistema degli interessi, so-no tutti fattori che hanno largamente modificato dinamiche ed esiti del processo di rappresentanza degli interessi, co-stituendo al contempo vincoli ed opportunità per i gruppi di interesse e, più in generale, per tutti coloro che si dedica-no – più o meno continuativamente – all’attività di lobbying nel nostro paese.

This thesis uses the deductive case-explanation model of process-tracing to determine the conditions under which the Australian Government was most responsive to public preferences relating to the size of the aid budget between 2000 and 2013. Its analysis focuses on the preferences promoted by aid advocacy groups and considers to what extent their outside lobbying led to the three key announcements where, outside of the budget cycle, the major political parties signalled a significant change to the size of the aid budget. It concludes that the Australian Government will be most responsive to such preferences when the electoral benefits associated with the action outweigh the electoral costs. This is determined by the Government’s perceptions of the salience and intensity of public opinion related to the preferences promoted by aid advocacy groups.  As such, the Australian Government’s responsiveness declines in periods of economic downturn, when the competition over budgetary appropriations intensifies.

The complexities of modern society increase the amount of necessary government actions and decrease the amount of deliberation that goes into them.  The resulting strain on our policymaking system leads government officials to rely on lobbyists and leads lobbyists to fight viciously for influence over government officials.  Symptoms of this problem surface with scandals such as the Abramoff affair and trends such as the recent lobbying boom.  These instances of corruption and inefficiency in congressional practices have renewed interest in lobbying reform.  While lobbyists provide legislatures with benefits such as information and representation of special interests, lobbying often becomes a spending war between conflicting interests that consume the efforts of both legislators and advocacy groups.  Currently, the only limitations over lobbying practices are disclosure laws that require lobbyists to reveal their lobbying activities after spending a certain amount influencing officials.
Mediation may offer an adaptable and widely-beneficial mechanism in congressional lobbying practices.  If Congress had the power to push opposing interest groups to enter mediation after spending a certain amount in lobbying on an issue, they may be able to preclude costly, indirect fighting by reaching consensus over policy action.  Opening and facilitating communication among interests may help to improve legislation and reduce corruption that is associated with interest group pressure.  This process would combine existing, established lobbying practices with two simple legislative mechanisms to decrease malignant lobbyist activity and improve the quality of public policy.  Aside from solving problems, this proposal offers a model for the optimal use of lobbyists in congressional practice and broader implications of increasing the democratic value of government institutions to better fit modern conditions.
Part II of this Note describes the lobbying boom and its negative consequences.  Part III presents the basic idea of interest group mediation as the solution to the inefficiency and corruption involved with current lobbying practices.  Part IV describes existing governmental structures that use mediation in creating consensual public policy such as negotiated rulemaking and public dispute resolution.  Part V explains the mechanisms Congress will need to create in order to implement this process.  Finally, Part VI draws broader implications on optimal lobbying practices and on using interest group mediation to improve the democratic value of legislative enactments.

More Americans than ever before believe that money in politics weakens our democracy. Public opinion polls show that the number of people who believe that the country is run by a few big interests looking after themselves rose to nearly 80% over the past 20 years. The belief that corporate interests drive public policy is not all that surprising when you consider the growth of lobbying in the United States. According to the Center for Responsive Government, from 1998 to 2016, the amount of money spent on lobbying the U.S. government grew from $1.45 billion to $3.12 billion with well over 10,000 lobbyists in Washington. With this all this money attempting to influence policy outcomes in Washington, it is no wonder that Americans are skeptical of the intentions of government officials.

However, political scientists have found a more mixed result when it comes to the actual influence of money on politics. One study asked if the amount of money spent on any given issue really influences policy outcomes. Other studies have shown some benefit to the private parties that lobby. Thus despite significant research on the topic, there is little agreement among political scientists on just how lobbying influences political actors or if lobbying directly impacts policy results.

When it comes to foreign policy, corporate lobbies are an ever-present influence in the crafting of government policies. Whether in the European Union or the United States or other countries around the world, corporate lobbies view representing their interests in a truly global fashion. While corporate interests are investing in shaping foreign policy in a variety of issues areas such as defense spending, arms sales, contractors on humanitarian missions, one area is particularly vulnerable to corporate influence—trade and finance. Research shows that U.S. trade politics is heavily influenced by the lobbying of business organizations and trade associations. In fact, the U.S. administration often relies on interested corporate parties to provide it with both the expertise that shapes the agreement itself and the political case for trade liberalization that shapes the public pro-trade campaign. In turn, corporate lobbying for trade agreements is a costly and involved process. For example, during the eight years of negotiations over the TransPacific Partnership Agreement, a regional trade agreement between the United States and 11 other Pacific Rim countries, corporations paid $2.6 billion dollars to lobbyists to influence the content of the agreement and to promote it to Congress and the American public. An overview of the literature on corporate lobbying and an examination of the case of U.S. trade shows a particular example of how corporate lobbying works to influence foreign policy.

Criminal deportation policy in Canada follows a cyclical rather than a linear or partisan pattern. Based on a case study of Haitian residents deported between 1989 and 2009, I argue that criminal deportation cannot be explained as a stable proportion of the pool of permanent residents, but rather in terms of the political attention it generates. A change-point analysis identified two separate political mobilization phases. During the first phase (1994–1998), the integration of long-term residents is defined as a political issue and is translated into legislation (Bill C-44). The second phase (2003–2005) is a new episode of expansion that reformulated the issue around the concepts of risk and efficiency (Bill C-11). Despite recent legal reforms designed to accelerate removals of foreign criminals (Bills C-43 and C-60), the arrival of the Conservative Party (2006–2009) coincided with a decrease in criminal deportations during the period under review.

La politique de déportation criminelle épouse une trajectoire cyclique et non partisane. Sur la base d'une étude de cas de résidents haïtiens déportés pour criminalité entre 1989 et 2009, je soutiens que la déportation criminelle ne s'explique pas comme une proportion stable du bassin de résidents permanents mais par l'attention politique qu'elle génère. Une analyse de points de rupture multiple distingue deux phases de mobilisation pénales distinctes. La première phase (1994–1998) correspond à la désignation du problème, puis à sa formulation en projet de loi (C-44). La deuxième phase (2003–2005) correspond à un nouvel épisode de durcissement par une reformulation de l'enjeu autour des notions de risque et d'efficacité (C-11). Malgré le dépôt de réformes législatives visant à accélérer la politique de déportation criminelle (C-43, C-60), l'arrivée du Parti conservateur (2006–2009) correspond à une baisse de la mobilisation pénale durant la période à l’étude.

In Poland there exists a phenomenon of a “diagnosis without consequences” – numerous structural deficiencies of the Polish state, although recognized as such for years, are not met by any consistent counter-action. To explain the phenomenon, this article introduces the concept of Anti-Development (parasite) Interest Groups (ADIGs). In contemporary Poland, the parasite, informal interest groups – probably present in any modern political system – are characterised by the following features: 1) they are embedded in the core zone of the state organism or have direct access to such zone; 2) they render the Polish state incapable of acting for the sake of common good; 3) they are aggregated (coordinated) in a way that enables them to function as a self-regulating system which actively penetrates the social environment and not only flexibly reacts to threats but also is able to neutralize some of them in advance; and 4) the most powerful ADIGs are bound together by resources and methods inherited from the Communist intelligence services. The author subscribes to Zdzisław Krasnodębski’s thesis that “...two transformations occurred in Poland. Overt, which consisted in the transformation of the structures of the Communist state and economy into formal institutions of parliamentary democracy and market economy and another transformation – covert – which consisted in local modification and shaping (interpretation) of the new institutions and rules in order to make them serve the transformed Communist elites and co-opted segments of the elite originating from the former opposition.” This work reconstructs principles governing the behaviour of agents whose activities generate the “other” transformation.

El documento, fue escrito para su difusión en XEMC-TV la televisora chetumaleña que narra 200 años de lucha ininterrumpida del pueblo mexicano, para tener un gobierno nacional mexicano libre del poder omnímodo de oligarquía local y plutocracia mundial.  Específicamente se refiere a la lucha de una fracción de la oligarquía regiomontana, formalmente orientada a parar en seco la acción del lopezmateismo por llevar libros de texto gratuitos a la niñez neoleonesa y mexicana toda.  Realmente, fue una parte de la embestida contra un titular del poder ejecutivo que "tascaba el freno" y se negaba a obedecer ciegamente los designios de las fracciones hegemónicas del capital privado.

Solo negli anni più recenti il fenomeno della rivoluzione ha trovato nelle scienze sociali  una significativa collocazione teorica nel repertorio dei processi che trasformano il sistema sociale. Nei primi due decenni del secondo dopoguerra lo struttural-funzionalismo e la teoria del pluralismo democratico, in virtù dell'influenza esercitata dalla scienza politica e della sociologia nord-americana, hanno orientato gran parte della teoria e della ricerca a sottolineare gli elementi di stabilità e di equilibrio del sistema e a trascurare quelli di conflitto.  Un atteggiamento più  vicino alla concezione della rivoluzione presente nella tradizione culturale europea, è lentamente maturato, tra gli studiosi nord-americani nella seconda metà degli anni sessanta

Any democratic society requires mechanisms for citizens to have effective political voice. Clearly, political parties provide a key channel for expressing views and preferences. However , organised interests provide another important mechanism for such representation. A crucial question in this regard is whether the interest group system is capable of ensuring the representation of a variety of public and private interests. Resolving these debates requires data that map the terrain and also are attentive to organisational diversity. This article takes up this challenge through exploring the composition and diversity of the Australian system of organised interests, using a new data set based on the Directory of Australian Associations. This system-level approach delivers important insights into the nature of the Australian interest group system, as well as provides a framework for subsequent work interpreting and contextualising advocacy activities of particular groups, or lobbying dynamics in specific policy domains.

Why are US labor unions so weak? Union decline has had important consequences for politics, inequality, and social policy. Common explanations cite employment shifts, public opinion, labor laws, and differences in working class culture and organization. But comparing the United States with Canada challenges those explanations. After following US unionization rates for decades, Canadian rates diverged in the 1960s, and are now nearly three times higher. This divergence was due to different processes of working class political incorporation. In the United States, labor was incorporated as an interest group into a labor regime governed by a pluralist idea. In Canada, labor was incorporated as a class representative into a labor regime governed by a class idea. This led to a relatively stronger Canadian labor regime that better held employers in check and protected workers’ collective bargaining rights. As a result, union density stabilized in Canada while plummeting in the United States.

Recent research on the politics of contemporary policymaking has centered the contributions of diverse conservative forces. Conservatives
are viewed as the chief proponents of marketizing reforms featuring retrenchment of social programs, privatization of social services, deregulation, and tax reduction, as well as of disciplining policies that impose more stringent behavioral requirements on beneficiaries, employ testing and reporting to monitor recipient performance, and impose sanctions for non-compliance. These developments are often viewed as fostering a less egalitarian politics, especially for historically disadvantaged groups.
I examine the rise of standards, testing, accountability, and limited school choice policies in federal education policymaking, which are widely viewed as embodying the same conservative interests and ideologies that have shaped policymaking in other areas. Contrary to this conventional wisdom, I show that certain civil rights organizations, not conservative forces, provided much of the impetus for federal standards, testing, and accountability reforms, which they viewed as measures for raising the achievement of disadvantaged students.Tracing the origins and consequences of these policies, my research reveals that entrepreneurial progressives can achieve significant legislative successes that they believe will accomplish progressive objectives. However, these policy victories
have yielded mixed substantive results, and they have also unleashed complex and unanticipated consequences.

Contemporaneously, the study of EU lobbying appears somewhat disconnected from other sub-areas within the study of EU-politics. Research tends to be focused on single issues – either particularistic or directional – and concentrates on communicative interaction modes that emphasize network governance, ignoring the electoral side of politics. This essay’s main objective is to make the politics component of interest group politics more intelligible. The core argument is that interest groups strategies, as well as potential influence, are not adequately explained by resources only. In response to this, a framework is built that links different interaction modes (arguing, bargaining and voting) with political strategies (inside and outside), organizational formats and the nature of political issues.

There has been in the recent past a revival of the interest in lobbying studying and lobbying policies, both in terms of regulating this activity and increasing scrutiny for lobbying, lobbyists and legislators.

The current article explores the lobbying activity status in parliaments of the European Union, of Romania and of the United Kingdom. Firstly, the particularities of each legislative chamber and political forum are presented, including the historical development of the parliaments and the lobbying activity and regulation situation. Secondly, it presents three main occurrences that are keeping a negative light on the lobbying activity: the registration of the members of parliaments’ interests and public scrutiny, revolving door condition and cooling off mechanisms for parliamentarians, if these exists.

In recent decades, there has been a considerable expansion of citizen participation in protests and voluntary advocacy groups. To analyze this development, the social movement literature and the
interest group literature have emerged. Yet these two bodies of literature have not communicated with each other and have rarely incorporated knowledge from other fields in political science.
As a result, critical questions remain unanswered regarding the political influence of advocacy groups. How do they affect politicians? To what degree do informal groups use lobbying tactics? Are socioeconomically advantaged groups more influential? This thesis endeavors to address the above shortcomings by bridging the literature on social movements, interest groups and political parties. The purpose of the thesis is to explain if and how advocacy groups affect public
policy and to analyze which resources that are required to influence political decisions. The focus is on informal and loosely organized social movement organizations (informal SMOs):
parental networks, staff networks, and village networks. To test my arguments, I use a unique database on protests and lobbying against school closures in Sweden. Closures of public schools
have been one of the most important drivers of political activism in Sweden. The results are presented in three essays.
Essay I tests new electoral mechanisms that could condition the political influence of advocacy groups. The results suggest that the political influence of informal SMOs on school
closure decisions varies according to the type of voter they mobilize: swing voters or core voters. Essay II demonstrates how informal SMOs use lobbying tactics, such as presenting policy relevant information, to influence politicians. Social movement scholars often focus on protests and ignore lobbying tactics. However, the results show that SMOs that present policy-relevant
information are more likely to stop school closures than SMOs that mobilize large protests. Essay III analyzes which informal SMOs exchange policy-relevant information with politicians. Previous studies on the use of lobbying tactics have ignored activist resources. My results suggest that SMOs mobilizing high-income activists and activists with analytical and
civic skills are more likely to present policy-relevant information. This is problematic given normative ideals of equal access to decision-making by all members of society.

The paper aims to explain a highly differentiated use of the law by two transnational collective actors, the European Women’s Lobby (EWL) and the European Roma and Travellers Forum (ERTF), and this despite them belonging to the same domain of anti-discrimination policy at the EU level. It addresses the more general topic of the response of collective actors to policy change. Empirical data has been collected on the basis of a triangulation between secondary sources, documentary sources and semi-structured interviews and has been analysed in terms of process-tracing. In the first part we explore different strategies to promote human rights (the law as a reference and the law as a resource). Then we focus on the main factors behind the contrast studied : the role of groups’ organizational resources and of collective identity frames. In the final section we discuss the relevance of iterative effects associated with interactions between groups and their positioning within the European system of governance. The most important result of the comparison shows that to respond to changes in governance arrangements, collective actors have had to adapt reflexively. To do so, they not only assess the available margins of manœuvre and incentives, but look deeply at their own composition, seeking organizational and strategic formulae able to cope with internal conflicts and at their competitive environment.

Cet article part d’un premier constat, relatif à un usage très différencié des mobilisations juridiques par deux acteurs collectifs transnationaux, le Lobby européen des femmes (LEF) et le Forum européen des Roms et des gens du voyage (FERV) qui pourtant appartiennent au même secteur européen de la lutte contre les discriminations. Il a pour objectif d’expliquer les raisons de cet usage différencié, et de discuter les dimensions d’analyse pertinentes. Il s’inscrit dans la problématique plus générale de la réponse des acteurs collectifs au changement de l’action publique. Les données empi- riques ont été recueillies sur la base d’un principe de triangulation entre sources secon- daires, sources documentaires et entretiens semi-directifs et elles ont été élaborées dans une optique qualitative de process-tracing. Dans une première partie nous explo- rons les différentes stratégies de promotion des droits du LEF et du FERV (le droit comme référence et le droit comme ressource), pour nous concentrer ensuite sur les principaux facteurs à l’origine de cette situation contrastée : le rôle des ressources organisationnelles des groupes et des cadres d’identité collective, mais également le rôle des effets itératifs liés aux interactions entre groupes et leur positionnement au sein du système européen de gouvernance. L’apport principal de ce travail comparatif est de montrer que face aux évolutions des modalités de gouvernance, les acteurs collectifs ont dû s’adapter de façon réflexive, pas seulement en regardant les marges de manœuvre et les incitations existantes, mais avec une forte attention à leur propre composition, à la recherche de formules organisationnelles et stratégiques capables de prendre en compte les conflits internes et à leur environnement concurrentiel.

The Norwegian polity, along with the polities of the other small countries in Western Europe, has frequently been classified as close to the neo-corporatist model of interest group participation in politics (Crepaz 1992, Katzenstein 1985, Lehmbruch 1982, 1984, Schmidt 1982, Schmitter 1981). Focusing on economic politics, the argument in this chapter is that the concept of corporative pluralism gives a better description of Norwegian interest group politics, as pluralist tendencies are clearly detectable, especially in the period from the late 1970s to the present. The discussion follows two dimensions, with two polar opposites reflecting the noted distinction between corporatism and pluralism; (1) the processes of political decision-making and - implementation that involve organised interests and (2) the organisation of functional interests (Lehmbruch 1982, Schmitter 1982).

The following quote is an excerpt from the novel, ‘In the Name of the Rose’: “Laughter kills fear, and without fear, there is no faith. Who does not fear the devil no longer needs a God.”

That conversation ensued between the Blind Abbot and the Researcher. The statement catches the essence of this Report. Even more so, if it is important to mention that this realm of knowledge is extraordinary and far beyond academic or even scholastic relevance; then, it is in the realm of seekers. Seekers are those who find themselves in the Labyrinth of the Nomos. Where only stoics find solace and where those martyrs become fully integral scholars as they emerge from the depth to only to be at peace with themselves and the with the world around them. They are able to find balance, though not always instantaneous but eventually able to see order in the chaos.
It makes sense that power is made of two essential ingredients, ability and capacity and, that both are not equal. This paper explains why. It also explains why abuse of power is not just a moral issue but much more of what can be described as cultivated dependency.
Though this is not part of the paper, Samuel Johnson was able to capture the realm of seekers in the following statement:

"The mind, once let loose to enquiry, and suffered to operate without restraint, necessarily deviates into peculiar opinions and wanders new tracks, where she is indeed sometimes lost in a labyrinth, from which she cannot return and scarce knows how to proceed; yet, sometimes makes useful discoveries, or finds out nearer paths to knowledge." - Samuel Johnson

The paper explains itself and it is worth reading.