"Knowledge is Power": the Limits of Political Consulting and Lobbying in the Political Decision-Making Process

Project lead:

• Prof. Dr Michael Minkenberg (Professorship of Comparative Politics, Faculty of Social and Cultural Sciences, EUV)
• Dr Artur Kopka (Faculty of Social and Cultural Sciences, EUV)
• Prof. Dr Dorota Piontek (Institute for Social Communication, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań)

Research team:

• Hertie School of Governance Berlin
• Technical University of Dresden
• Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań
• University of Warsaw
• Lower Silesian University of Applied Sciences in Wrocław

Funding institution:

Deutsch-Polnische Wissenschaftsstiftung, Stiftung für Deutsch-Polnische Zusammenarbeit, KPF Euroregion Pro Europa Viadrina

Project duration:

October 2016 - June 2022

Project website as of 2020

Publication:

Kopka, Artur/ Piontek, Dorota (Hg.): "Politische Expertenkultur in Deutschland und Polen. Politik, Beratung und Lobbyismus im Vergleich", Wiesbaden: Springer VS, 2024. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-43365-9

Project description:

This research project focuses on the question of the boundaries between scientific policy advice and lobbying as well as their role in the practice of political decision-making. The structures of policy advice and how they function, as well as how the substantive basis for decision-making comes about, are to be comprehensively examined and comparatively analysed, with particular attention to the border area between scientific policy advice and lobbying. Special attention will be paid to the differentiation between scientific policy advice and lobbying on the one hand and on the other hand to the standards for the legitimacy and legality of different advisory processes in the political decision-making process. The influence of advisors and lobbyists on political decisions as well as on the actions and performance of political actors will be analysed. In addition, the structures and legal regulations in the field of political consulting, the subject of consulting, the tasks and working methods as well as the recruitment and communication methods of different consultants are the focus of interest.

The planned study will initially take up the German-Polish comparative perspective in order to analyse the similarities and differences in the structures and functioning of political consulting and lobbying in Western and Eastern Europe against the background of their historical and cultural framework conditions as a pilot project. The aim is to identify the relevant problems in the field of political consulting and lobbying.

In view of the increasing relevance of political consulting in both the academic debate and in the politics of the Eastern European EU member states, this field of research is still little illuminated. The ultimate aim of the project is to develop a larger comparative project relating to East Central Europe in order to close this research gap.

This third-party funded project was successfully acquired as part of the seed money funding for the project development "'Knowledge is Power': Limits of Political Advice and Lobbying in the Political Decision-Making Process".