Public Policy Lobbying Strategies

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2016:

170 hours

Politics and International Studies or Public Policy at Undergraduate Level

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Description, Subject Objectives, Generic Skills and Assessment Requirements of this entry.The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison Unit website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

This subject is designed to develop an understanding of the links between contemporary public policy and political communication and lobbying processes, in particular how the political and media environment can be utilised to transform the public policy agendas of interest groups and NGOs into concrete political and legislative outcomes. In a world of increasingly short-term media cycles and fragmented audiences, developers of public policy can no longer rely just on the quality and integrity of their ideas and recommendations to attract and maintain broad-based support. Instead, contemporary public policy is becoming increasingly reliant on ‘campaign style’ forms of political lobbying to achieve community influence as well as traction among government decision-makers. The subject explores the theory and research behind these changes, in particular why certain interest groups and sectors are able to position themselves for public policy success compared to others. The subject gives specific attention to ways to develop and advance public policy through a prism of ‘campaign-style’ political communications and lobbying. These techniques include how to develop public policy narratives that align with the interests of policy and political decision-makers; how to use evidence-based research to build a case for change; forming third-party coalitions to build broad-based support, as well as the use of strategic media to project the benefits of public policy change. The subject’s specific focus is on public policy lobbying campaigns that have occurred or are occurring within the Australian political and public policy environment but its themes and approaches are equally applicable to other contemporary political systems.

On completion of this subject students should:

• be able to demonstrate an understanding of the theory and development of public policy lobbying and its role in the political decision-making and legislative process;
• be able to demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between public policy development and political communication and lobbying strategies;
• be able to understand the components of public policy lobbying and communication that effectively promote specific policy initiatives and objectives;
• be able to demonstrate the ability to combine these components into a comprehensive lobbying strategy directed at key audiences in timely and effective manner;
• be able to demonstrate how to assess the effectiveness of public policy lobbying campaigns through objective measurement and analysis.

• A written campaign proposal consisting of 1,000 words (20%) due during Week 6 of the semester.
• A full campaign strategy of 4,000 words (80%) due during the examination period.

Hurdle requirement: Students must attend a minimum of 80% of classes in order to pass this subject. All pieces of written work must be submitted to pass this subject.

Required readings will be made available electronically via LMS prior to the commencement of semester.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

On completion of this subject students should:

• be able to demonstrate competence in critical, creative and theoretical thinking through essay writing, seminar discussion and presentations, conceptualising theoretical problems, forming judgments and arguments from conflicting evidence, and by critical analysis;
• be able to demonstrate proficiency in the application of policy analysis skills to empirical problems;
• be able to demonstrate an understanding of the academic protocols of research and presentation.