Public affairs
The term Public Affairs (PA) or political contact work describes the strategic, communicative influence of organizations on political decision-making processes. PA works at the interface between politics , business and society . Related, linked disciplines are government relations and lobbyism .
Definition of terms
Public Affairs (PA) describes the strategic management of decision-making processes at the interface between politics, business and society. PA is carried out by various organizations such as companies and associations, but also as a service by PR companies and accordingly uses techniques based on this. In contrast to this, Government Relations (GR) describes that part of lobbying that is aimed at directly influencing the legislative process in direct (legal) dialogue with the legislature. GR is mostly practiced by lawyers and lobbying firms. The fields of activity subsumed under the terms PA and GR are also traditionally carried out by associations.
PA describes that segment of professional communication by organizations (e.g. companies, associations and NGOs ) that analyzes and systematically implements the relationship to groups in politics and bureaucracy and to groups of social influence. PA organizes the external relations of an organization , especially to governments , parliaments , authorities , municipalities as well as associations and institutions - and to society itself. PA means representation of interests in a political context. It uses both the methods of classic public relations (press and media work, issues management etc.) as well as specific instruments such as communication with and advice from relevant decision-makers, directly or via opinion leaders and the media, political monitoring, CSR (corporate social responsibility) etc. Since the laws of economy and politics are constantly changing (especially in the context of advancing globalization), it is necessary that organizations are able to react extremely flexibly to new topics and problems. It is the task of the PA as well as all other lobbying activities to create and maintain relationships with the relevant stakeholder groups of an organization and at the same time to represent the interests of the company with these groups. Since no company can act in isolation from society and politics, the interests of an organization always have an impact on social areas.
A generally accepted definition of PA does not (yet) exist. The term is an internationally used technical term coined in the USA . The aim of the PA is to actively and sustainably involve companies and organizations in social and political processes. It is about creating awareness and acceptance for certain topics in the public, the political and the media arena. Topics can be actively set and designed. But it is also about the observation of topics and actors as well as the analysis of their development. This makes it possible to determine at an early stage which crises could arise and how to react to certain issues. PA is either operated internally by companies, associations, non-governmental organizations (NGO), trade unions, etc. or offered externally by specialized service providers (PR agencies, lobbying companies, etc.).
The relationship between public affairs and public relations
In the literature there have been many attempts to differentiate between the two terms PA and PR in terms of content. Practice and science agree that PR cultivates and develops relationships with publics that are important for the relevant organization. PA is that part of communication aimed at politics and the public in order to influence politics. But there is also a way of looking at both disciplines standing side by side without being connected. It turns out that PA belongs to PR in terms of content, as PR strives to build constructive relationships with all publics. PA focuses on the specific public of government, administration and authorities and interest groups.
Public affairs as a service
In addition to work by companies themselves, PA are also professional services provided by agencies and consultancies that advise organizations on how to organize their relationship with the political field. Policy advice is an area that partially overlaps .
PA comes from the USA and is still a young and up-and-coming discipline in Germany as a service offer from agencies, which received a strong development boost in 1999 when the government moved from Bonn to Berlin . Since then, PA has been increasingly operated as a service not only by associations, but also by agencies and external consultants. The center of the German PA industry is the government district in Berlin , where a large part of the players who specialize in PA have settled.
history
United States
The term PA translates as "public affairs". He comes from the USA, where the Public Affairs Council (PAC) was founded in 1954 at the instigation of the American President Eisenhower in Washington, DC as a counter-organization to the trade unions. Since corporate decisions are directly and indirectly influenced by politics and the framework conditions set by them, the aim of the PA was to activate the political activities of the companies. What this means is the conscious participation in shaping, steering and developing the political control processes that could endanger a company and thus its economic success. This includes laws, ordinances, permits and requirements at all political levels. Therefore, PA are often referred to as government relations or community relations. Initially, the actors were predominantly lawyers from senior corporate positions who maintained non-official contact with political actors, which mainly consisted of passing on information. This work has been primarily reactive as companies wait and see political decisions before either adopting or objecting to them.
In the 1960s, influential unions were formed during Eisenhower's reign. As a result, companies were forced to better maintain their relations with the government. They used the Public Affairs Council for this and had their managers trained there in specific political knowledge. The Public Affairs Council now includes over 500 of the largest US companies. Over time, the focus of this organization shifted to representing corporate interests vis-à-vis the lobby of consumer and environmentalists. The organization saw its task in training managers, in particular with regard to improving the efficiency of their political commitment. The Council thus primarily devoted itself to training in matters of PA instead of influencing politics.
In the 1970s, the American PA sector saw tremendous growth, which resulted in a doubling of the membership of the Public Affairs Council. The company's PR staff grew quickly and the number of PA professionals even tripled. Due to increasing political market intervention, more and more companies recognized the importance of managing political processes. Escalating disputes with trade unions, NGOs, politicians and regulatory authorities also created a need for external advice, which was ensured by the political consultants' advisory agencies that were just developing. Companies and associations had learned from their confrontations with radical left empowerment and community organizing and moved from the defensive to the offensive.
In the 1980s, the American public affairs sector collapsed due to the recession, numerous corporate mergers and the associated decline in involvement in the PA sector. Instead, most companies focused primarily on their commercial environment. The corporate activism phase was exhausted.
It was not until the 1990s that PA regained a higher status. Coupled with a shift of political power back to the individual states and municipalities, the recession and a polarizing dispute over economic policy, the health system and the fundamental reform of the welfare state reactivated the PA sector. Due to the effects of national-political decisions on their international competitiveness, American companies saw the need for PA as a non-commercial and external communication work. The driving force behind this development was above all the tobacco industry as well as chemical and pharmaceutical companies, which had come under increasing pressure from the public's environmental and health awareness promoted by the consumer and environmental protection lobby.
Germany
In Germany, PA is still a relatively young discipline. The term has actually only appeared since the government moved from Bonn to Berlin and has been spreading steadily ever since, now also across specialist circles.
In the 1980s, under pressure from environmental associations and an increase in environmental policy discourse, there was increased economic regulation in Germany. As a result, many companies felt compelled to enter into a dialogue with politicians in order to prevent these regulations or at least to mitigate their economic consequences.
This discourse was mostly led by interest groups, which coined the term association state ( corporatism ).
At the same time as the government moved from Bonn to Berlin in 1999, there was a change in the understanding of political communication. While in the Bonn Republic it was primarily the associations who endeavored to represent corporate interests in the political field, in Berlin this area of responsibility is also performed by corporate representatives, lobbying firms, PA agencies, law firms and independent consultants .
While associations represent the overall interests of their members, consultants specifically represent the individual interests of their clients. Project lobbying is about the representation of mostly commercial interests of individual actors, which naturally cannot be carried out within the framework of associations, since it means the privileged treatment of one member over others. On the other hand, PA agencies usually lack long-term roots in the respective spectrum of interests. Associations are unrivaled here and are indispensable as a source for PA agencies. The function of interest aggregation, for example in the form of coordinated industry positions and expertise, is a domain of the associations.
The task of PA consultants, company representatives and associations is to bridge the communicative gap between politics and business and to bring the concerns of the client and / or members seriously and professionally into the political process. Former political leaders are now increasingly being employed in PA agencies and companies who have the appropriate know-how, i.e. mastery of communication techniques and experience in dealing with political decision-makers and interest groups.
The market in Berlin is still very PR-heavy, even if there is also a professionalization here, and thus, as in Washington and Brussels, a change to a stronger legal and economic lobbying focus. In this respect, among the providers based on the American model, there are also increasing international law firms and lobbying firms in this sector, which - mostly with the help of ex-politicians and specialized lawyers in their ranks - bring foreign companies to the German or European market or German companies to the political one Make bodies heard.
literature
- Althaus, Marco; Geffken, Michael; Rawe, Sven: Handbuch Public Affairs, Lit, Münster 2005 ISBN 3-8258-8144-X
- Busch-Janser, Florian et al. (Ed.): Career Guide Public Affairs. ISBN 978-3-938456-31-6 .
- Dagger, Steffen; Greiner, Christoph; Leinert, Kirsten; Melissa, Nadine; Menzel, Nadine: Policy advice in Germany - practice and perspectives, VS-Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften 2004, ISBN 3-531-14464-2
- Dagger, Steffen; Kambeck, Michael (Ed.): Policy advice and lobbying in Brussels, VS-Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2007
- Hochstätter, Matthias: Germany communicates - politics, lobbyism, media and public opinion, Saarbrücken 2008, ISBN 978-3-639-11457-7
- Hoffjann, Olaf: Public Affairs. In: Fröhlich, Romy, Szyszka, Peter, Bentele, Günter (Hrsg.): Handbuch der Public Relations. Scientific foundations and professional activities. 3. Edition. Springer VS 2015, ISBN 978-3-531-18917-8 , pp. 883-904.
- Husen, Peter: Professional lobby / public affairs agencies: New forms of interest representation at EU level, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3640319008
- Köppl, Peter: Public Affairs Management: Strategies & Tactics of Successful Corporate Communication, Vienna Linde, 2000, ISBN 3-7073-0072-2
- Köppl, Peter: Power Lobbying: The Practical Handbook of Public Affairs. ISBN 3-7143-0010-4
- Schönborn, Gregor / Wiebusch, Dagmar: PA Agenda Luchterhand 2002, ISBN 3-472-04576-0
- Siedentopp, Jan: Public affairs management of large companies: market versus non-market strategies, Lit, Münster et al. 2010, ISBN 978-3-643-10130-3 .
- Steltemeier, Rolf / Catón / Matthias: Public Affairs . In: Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz (Hrsg.): Small Lexicon of Politics . 4th edition. Beck, Munich 2007, ISBN 3-406-51062-0 , pp. 457-458 .
- van Schendelen, Rinus: The Art of EU Lobbying - Successful Public Affairs Management in the Labyrinth of Brussels, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-86965-194-1
- Vondenhoff, Christoph et al .: Lobbying Practice Guide. ISBN 978-3-938456-21-7
