The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Interest Groups, Lobbying and Public Affairs

The growing need for a concise and comprehensive overview of the world of interest groups, lobbying, and public affairs called for a compendium of existing research, key theories, concepts, and case studies. This project is the first transnational encyclopedia to offer such an interdisciplinary and wide overview of these topics, including perspectives on public relations, crisis management, communication studies, as well as political science, political marketing, and policy studies. It is an interdisciplinary work, which involved an extraordinary pool of contributors made up of leading scholars and practitioners from all around the globe; it is a live and evolving project focused on drawing together grounded international knowledge for our diverse and developing world.

The 200+ entries of the Palgrave Encyclopedia of Interest Groups, Lobbying and Public Affairs (to be found as a live reference work online here, and in two print volumes in 2022) address these research avenues, tackling a growing demand for a comprehensive international reference work regarding key global sectors and policymaking structures, looking beyond the traditional markets of Europe and North America to incorporate practice and research from Asia, Africa, Oceania, and Latin America. This encyclopedia acts as a synthesis of existing research, and aims to aid academics, students, and practitioners navigate their relevant fields around the globe.

• Interest groups
• Lobbying
• Public Affairs
• Government relations
• Political communication
• Political campaigning
• Global governance
• Citizen engagement
• Government effectiveness
• Corruption
• Legislation
• Pressure affairs
• Financial affairs
• Public relations
• Political marketing
• Stakeholder management
• Regulation
• Policy process
• Networks
• Pressure groups

• University of Chester Business School, Chester, UK

  Phil Harris

• University of South Africa (UNISA), Pretoria, South Africa

  Phil Harris

• Good Governance Institute, London, UK

  Phil Harris

• Università della Svizzera Italiana, Lugano, Switzerland

  Alberto Bitonti

• Aurora WDC/Medical, College of Wisconsin, Madison, USA

  Craig S. Fleisher

• Department of Political Science, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

  Anne Skorkjær Binderkrantz

Professor Phil Harris Is Professor Emeritus Marketing & Public Affairs, University of Chester, UK & Professor Extraordinarius at University of South Africa (UNISA),Pretoria and a Fellow of the Good Governance Institute. He has held a number of senior academic positions and directorships in China, New Zealand and the UK, this included the Westminster Chair from 2009 to 2020 at Chester and a Professorship at University of Otago,NZ.  he is recognized for his research on entrepreneurship, strategic public affairs management and political marketing. Phil is founding editor of the Journal of Public Affairs and a member of a number of international editorial and advisory boards and has authored over 300 articles & 20 books. Before becoming an academic he worked in the chemical, food and media industries and  has served on a number of boards and taught and advised Businesses and Government in Asia, Europe and North America. Phil holds visiting professorships in China and Germany and currently advises on China, Entrepreneurialism, Public Affairs and Transparency. He is a Freeman of the City of London and holds the CIM Presidents medal for his contribution to developing International business & marketing.

Alberto Bitonti is Lecturer in Political Theory and Political Communication and postdoctoral research fellow at Università della Svizzera Italiana (Switzerland), Professor of Politics at IES Abroad Rome, and Adjunct Professor of Methodology of Social Sciences at LUISS Guido Carli University (Italy). He has conducted research and taught at various universities and research institutes (American University of Washington DC, Yale, Umbra Institute of Perugia, Newberry Library of Chicago, IULM, Eurispes, IED, CENSIS, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Università di Urbino, etc.), earning his Ph.D. (Università di Roma Tre, 2011) by developing research on the philosophy of lobbying and the concept of public interest. He published Lobbying in Europe: Public Affairs and the Lobbying Industry in 28 EU Countries (Palgrave Macmillan 2017, co-edited with Phil Harris) and Classe dirigente: Il profile del potere in Italia (Datanews 2012), besides various reports and studies on digital democracy and lobbying regulation, in addition to articles and essays in Italian and international books and journals. Trying to bridge the gap between academic research and policy action, he provides advice to a variety of NGOs, firms, political groups, and governments and works with various organizations promoting open government and innovation in the political world. In Italy, he founded and coordinated the Open Lobby coalition. He is currently leading an international research project on deliberative quality in international organizations.

Craig S. Fleisher Ph.D. (Pittsburgh), MPRCA, is the Chief Analytics Officer at Aurora WDC (Madison, Wisconsin); Professor (adj.) in the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences/Institute for Health and Equity, Medical College of Wisconsin; He was Deputy and Regional Editor (for

the Americas) of the Journal of Public Affairs (Wiley); and co-author/co-editor of over half a dozen essential handbooks in the field of corporate public affairs (PA), including the 2019 SAGE Handbook of International Corporate and Public Affairs. He was formerly President of a national

PA association in Canada, a 2 endowed University Research Chair holder, Dean of two business schools and taught graduate/executive PA courses in Australia, Canada, China, the USA, and Switzerland. He advises scores of international market leaders in developing enhanced competencies in CSR, ESG, issues management, nonmarket strategy, reputation management, stakeholder engagement, and strategic approaches to PA.

Professor Anne Skorkjær Binderkrantz is professor at the Department of Political Science, Aarhus University. Her research focuses on the political role of interest groups and she has worked on interest group strategies, the access of interest groups across different political arenas and interest group influence. In addition, she works on political elites, governance of government agencies and teaching evaluations in higher education.

Policies and ethics