What is a lobby?

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Within the world of economics there are several terms that those of us who are not in constant contact with this type of environment may not know, however, there are certain terms that we should all know in order to better understand how the current system works. One of these terms is Lobby, a word that may remind us of the English language, however, it is a quite important term both in the field of economics and in politics, let's see what this means.

You will most likely hear the Lobby word Let's think about what in Spanish is known as a waiting room or waiting room. Despite everything, in the deepest sense, a lobby is known as a pressure group or pressure group; this means that a El lobby es un grupo de persons that converge to be able to exert a certain pressure that has the purpose of guiding the decisions of a political or financial institution, in such a way that said decisions are favorable for the group of people gathered.

And yet this term and this practice is not something that has emerged in recent years, let's see when and why they emerged.

The origin of the Lobbies

According to Historical records to which we can enter today, this term began to be used in the last years of the 19th century, which means that, for more than 100 years, this term has been part of our vocabulary, and has affected several of the decisions made by governments that have existed.

To be able to know fullness the story of this term it is important to mention that by the year 1830 the term Lobby already designated the area corresponding to the corridors of the House of Commons; said room was the designated place to be able to discuss subjects that corresponded to the parliament. Another of the antecedents of the lobbies is that General Grant, from the United States, settled in the lower lobby of a hotel, this due to a fire that affected the White House. And once he was installed in that place, the lobby was filled with what we now know as lobbyists.

The goal of lobbies

Por lo que hemos leído sobre lobbies es viable que creamos que un grupo que se reúne para poder ejercer presión ante una decisión política o económica, podríamos pensar que es un event ilegal, no obstante, es todo lo contrario, debido Puesto que este tipo de actividad es verdaderamente regular, se tomó la decisión de regular los lobbies. Y se contempla que he target de un lobby It is that all interested parties who receive some effect due to a decision of public officials can express their ideas, needs or disagreements that are related to said decision.

And even though this regulation has been in force for many years, in recent years more progress has been made in terms of the regulation of lobbies, achieving that the transparency and standardization of these is carried out in a much more effective way and in a way that all interested parties can satisfy their needs and concerns through this procedure.

Because the United States is one of the first places where this begins to be regulated by law, we can find many historical references to these events in that country; As an example, we have a phrase by John F. Kennedy, in which the US president indicates that the advantage of lobbies is that those who are part of them can explain a problem to him in 10 minutes, while his advisers would take 3 days.

Therefore once the los gobiernos entendieron la relevance de estos grupos de presión, is when the decision has been made to regulate them, because in order to apply the policy in a much more effective way it is necessary to listen to those who are interested in this or that decision to be taken, at the same time this enables the direction of the people involved are always affected for the better, because that is the end of the policy.

Here in the European Union there is a regulation of lobbies, regulation that is indicated in a public registry, which was inaugurated in 2008, in the month of June. And the main reason why the decision to carry out this inauguration was made is that they wanted to increase the transparency of the operation of the lobbies in the countries involved. And now that we know how they arose and that they are currently regulated, let's take a look at the way these lobbies are classified, to better understand their role in the development of the current law.

Lobby classification

Employers

The first ones we will mention are the employer lobbies, and is that its role in the development of modern society is clearly visible. During the years that this practice has been common, the employers' unions are one of the groups that has a great weight with respect to the decisions that will be taken to establish the course of the labor laws. This means that they have greatly affected the way in which hiring is legislated. One of the the best known lobbies in Europe is the ERT, known as the European round table of industrialists.

Even though it depends on the country we are referring to, the truth is that governments have given them an extremely important role in politics, and the reason for this is that to a large extent it is these lobbies that control the workforce, so they are the ones who know the field the most and are also the ones who own an important part of the economy.

It should also be mentioned that on repeated occasions special privileges are granted to those who are part of these lobbies, compared to others independent business entities, lo que en repetidas oportunidades hace que estar dentro de estas instituciones be un deseo anhelado por muchas compañías.

Union

Other pressure groups that have a great influence on the political development of companies are the union lobbies. These groups have had a significant influence not only in recent years, but since the 19th century, their existence has been clear when intervening in state decisions.

One of the main topics discussed is the welfare state or welfare state, in which state policies are mentioned that supposedly seek the greatest benefit of the population. The fact that these lobbies intervene in these types of political issues has been fundamental for many countries to have established legal regulations to be able to Secure problems like minimum wage, vacation time, among many others.

Today there are within this classification, many unions worldwide, which can represent a specific group of employees, as an example we can mention the educational unions, or also the mining, oil, agricultural unions, among many others.

And even though it's true that you never pretend the employee rights, there are some countries where the influence of trade unions is less and less, we can mention France, Italy and Great Britain as some of the places where trade unions are less and less important; This is due, according to experts, to the fact that there is currently great competition between the different institutions, which causes employees to be dispersed not only in their workplaces, but not even to agree. to their needs, guaranteeing each one their own well-being.

Ecologists

It is not surprising that in recent years we have entered an era in which there is an excessive allusion to caring for the environment. Due to the popularity of this topic, many institutions have been created worldwide in order to guarantee the ecological well-being of the planet.

The main demands of this kind of lobbies They are taking care of the exploitation of the natural resources that exist on the planet, taking care that the emissions generated do not harm nature, as well as taking care of the pollution that occurs both on the land and in the water.

Force and influence of these institutions becomes evident when we mention the carbon emissions law, as well as the demand for ecological systems that have to be applied to manufacturing companies, an ISO organization rule has even been created that focuses on caring for the environment. , and topics of interest not only social, but also political and even economic.

Undoubtedly all these institutions have played a fundamental role in the development of the history of humanity, and undoubtedly it will continue to be so as long as there are common interests.