Lobbying, a true career in politics? : Contribution to a sociology of commercial lobbyists in Poland an the Czech Republic
Abstract
Commercial lobbying appeared in Central Europe after the opening of the economic markets to foreign investment and became a new work outlook linked to the sphere of politics. Who enters this career, very weakly institutionalized and perceived with ambiguity by the public opinion? Can one consider these actors acting as intermediaries between the private and the public sectors as belonging to the field of politics? A tentative typology of commercial lobbyists and their analysis as a professional group in the making contribute to answering these questions.
The main criterion of differentiation in this typology is the presence or absence of a working experience in the public sphere, a position in politics or administration. This experience opens the careers of lobbyists to a paradox: at the same time as it strengthens their pragmatic and symbolic dependence on the public sphere, it also gives them the resources they then use in order to forge an autonomous status between the two sectors.
