مقاله سال ۲۰۱۶

In 2013, a team of young Dutch TV journalists went undercover to explore “the world of lobby” (Rambam, 2013). They pretended to represent a commercial sperm bank that was looking for ways to lift the legal ban on sperm trade. A lobbyist recommended them to establish a foundation so they could hide their commercial interests while lobbying for their cause. In a few months, the team successfully got their topic on the political agenda and the responsible minister announced an investigation into the issue. But the Beroepsvereniging voor Public Affairs (BVPA), the professional organization of PA practitioners in The Netherlands, officially reprimanded the lobbyist for recommending a course of action (hiding the commercial interest of the company) that is prohibited by the organization’s charter (BVPA, 2013).

“Public affairs and lobbying”, as this documentary illustrates, “is a field of PR practice that generates high levels of both scholarly and public concern” (Davidson, 2014, p. 1). Important criticisms targetthe overrepresentation of corporate interests by PA professionals,the resulting imbalance in political representation between powerful and less powerful actors in society, and the perception thatlobbyists exercise undue influence on policy makers (Davidson, 2014; Hamilton & Hoch, 1997; OECD, 2009; Smit, 2014).

To counter these criticisms, PA practitioners and their professional organizations, including the BVPA in The Netherlands, call for more professional transparency and accountability (BVPA, 2007; OECD, 2009). “Increasing the familiarity of public affairs to a broader audience” is one of the stated objectives of the BVPA (2014). From a scholarly perspective, however, relatively little is known about PA practitioners (Berg, 2012; Davidson, 2014; Terry, 2001), especially in relation to their prominent role in democratic decision-making. In The Netherlands, public affairs is even less researched than in other countries (Timmermans, 2014).