Lobbying is a dirty word

Lobbying is bad. It is dirty, secretive and suspicious in every way. Lobbyists lurk around the corner from decision-makers. In many cases, lobbying is an outright conspiracy: greedy politicians and policy influencers are ready to sell their souls and jump into the ranks of a consultancy with their insider information as soon as a payoff is agreed.

This picture of lobbying is drawn from public debate or from the popular TV series House of Cards. The situation is not helped by the fact that some people in the industry are meritoriously shushing their profession or using euphemisms for it. Few people seem to understand what lobbying - or social influence - is really about. My own picture of lobbying was somewhat hazy before I started my traineeship in the autumn. What does a lobbyist's working day consist of? How can lobbying be a business? And is it ethical - is it?

Basically, lobbying is about promoting interaction and bringing about social change. A consultancy on social lobbying therefore helps different actors to get their message heard. It brings the views of those affected to the attention of decision-makers. This is an objective that is hard to see as a bad thing. The different actors in society should be even more vigorous in bringing their views to the debate, because decision-making does not take place in a vacuum, but affects everyone. Let the best argument win!

I am not claiming that the sector is completely problem-free. I don't want to sugarcoat or defend it too much. Instead, I believe that more awareness, transparency and debate on the subject is welcome in order to develop the sector in a more responsible direction. To demonise the whole industry is largely unjustified: from my practice, I am inclined to argue that lobbyists have a much worse reputation than they perhaps deserve. At Blic, for example, transparency is at the heart of everything we do when dealing with policy makers. Blic also does not accept mandates that are not believed to shape society for the better, or mandates that are contradictory.

Lobbying has also been argued to skew social decision-making: only those who can afford to pay for it get their voices heard. Of course, this is true insofar as expertise provides iron-clad leverage, and home-grown influence is unlikely to achieve the same results. On the other hand, steely-eyed lobbying professionals are also working on lobbying outside consultancies, for example in organisations. In addition, non-profit actors are increasingly buying services from consultancies.

Although I was initially reluctant to talk about lobbying, after a few months I can do it with my head held high. A name doesn't hurt the profession, they say. And it's true: if lobbying is done transparently and ethically, it's no longer something obscure and scary, but a central part of Finnish debating democracy.

Laura Hildén

The author works at Blic as a Brainee intern and has been able to peer behind the mysterious smokescreen of lobbying.