Listen to us: How Dutch subnational governments together use public affairs to create a favorable position in the national and European political arenas

Because of the devolution of tasks and powers from the national political level to subnational levels, subnational governments such as municipalities and provinces are increasingly compelled to express their interests in the national and European arenas. However, to achieve substantial weight, authority, receptiveness, and success in both arenas, active cooperation with other subnational authorities is needed. The question is to what extent subnational authorities acknowledge this need for cooperation and how this cooperation is being organized and structured. More specifically, in this study, the function and role of collective public affairs (PA) activities are investigated. Qualitative interviews with 17 PA professionals and 24 PA practitioners, experienced in working for subnational authorities, were held to find out how subnational governments in the Netherlands together organize PA in both arenas. The results show that subnational cooperation is of ultimate importance for creating a favorable position in these arenas. Such cooperation is favorable if subnational authorities together constitute a clear profile and render thematic collaboration in which the citizen is seen as the most important stakeholder. Further, the level of knowledge concerning the national and European arenas should be optimal among all parties involved in which the PA professional serves as a liaison officer who connects the various stakeholders

Towards Regulation Lobbying in Romania: a Multi-faceted Coin

This paper focuses on the functional representation in post-communist Romania, addressing the question of interest groups regulation. Taking into account the novelty of this matter in the Romanian political system, the aim of this article is to describe and understand why the question of regulating lobbying has entered the Romanian political agenda ten years after the collapse of the communism. In other words, this contribution tries to illustrate the reasons for, and the public reaction to a legislative proposal introduced in 2001 by a social-democrat Member of the Parliament (MP). By focusing on the point of view expressed by the main political and social actors involved in the subsequent political and public debate, the paper maintains that regulating lobbying has been put on the political agenda of this country in the hope of solving some dysfunctional aspects observed in the domestic process of decision-making. It argues that, in the Romanian political landscape, regulating lobbying become a multifaceted coin. For instance, when supporting the idea of regulating lobbying, the rationale of the Romanian Government was to reduce corruption, the main explanatory statement of the Social-Democrat MP was to change the modus operandi/behaviour of interest groups and to create a new profession, while among the reasons expressed by some of the social actors involved in the public debate the creation of a legal framework allowing the participation of non-state actors in the domestic process of decision-making occupied an importance place.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe