Mid Sweden University

This study seeks to explore the relation between the elusive scholarly concept and the media framing of the role and practice of lobbying. The longitudinal study analyses a time period of 10 years in Sweden when lobbying has taken on an increasingly influential role in the political system. The results, based on a content analysis of news articles and opinion editorials in five national newspapers and trade media, illustrate that the perception of lobbying is without nuance and a common negative frame is present and continues to be reproduced. Furthermore, a clear contradiction is evident in the relation between the scholarly debate and the mediated debate of the practice. The article discusses what this setting and inconsistency implies for current society and democracy, and the citizen trust in political representatives and institutions.

This paper offers insights into how public affairs practitioners perceive their often-debated role in the political process. By examining the specific group of public affairs practitioners called “revolvers”, i.e. individuals who move from a position in the political sphere to a position as a public affairs consultant or vice-versa, we engage in the on-going discussion concerning the legitimacy of public affairs in modern democracies. The empirical material consists of interviews with revolvers who as public affairs practitioners have experience of working in the Swedish political sphere, as well as the commercially driven public affairs industry. Consequently, the article contributes to our understanding of lobbying in the political process from the perspective of the controversial revolvers and gives us an important insight into how revolvers in Sweden argue and act in their efforts to create legitimacy for their role by attempting to fuse corporate and public interests. The perception which is predominant in this study, suggests that the revolvers regard themselves as a kind of corporatist influence in a democratic society rather than a special interest influencer. The revolvers appear to find common ground when defining the purpose and contribution of their occupation as advocates, but that different lines of arguments arise when practitioners displace and differentiate themselves from the tainted work connected to lobbying and advocacy tasks. Hence it is clear that there is tension between the professional role conception and role performance.

Purpose: This article addresses recent calls in the literature for advancing our understanding of public affairs consultants and their role conceptions. By testing and further exploring self-perceptions of public affairs consultants the study aims to offer new insight into how consultants define and view their occupational role. Design/methodology/approach: The study draws on a nationwide survey with public affairs consultants in Sweden. Findings: Four main role conceptions were identified (advocate, do-gooder, expert and intermediary). Further, the study tests how personal and professional characteristics correlate with different role conceptions, by viewing professional experience and consultants' selection of clients. Data also suggest that consultants' background in politics does not promote any specific role perception. Finally, the findings also show that how consultants choose clients is a divider in the industry, where some act as passive intermediaries while other take a more active role in their choice of clients. Originality/value: The findings enhance our understanding of public affairs as a field, and specifically about the modelling of professional roles amongst consultants. The empirical results in this study show how contemporary role typologies needs to be extended to better capture the specificities of consultants' roles in public affairs. By addressing the issue of how consultants choose clients the study engages with the complex debate of whether consultants ought to act as objective or subjective agents and hence join the conversation on ethics in public affairs.