Within the world of economics there are many 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 politics, let's see what this means.
Most likely, when listening to the Lobby word Let's think about what in Spanish is known as a waiting room or the waiting room. However, in the deepest meaning, a lobby is known as a lobbying group or a pressure group; this means that a Lobby is a group of people that come together in order to be able to exert a certain pressure that has the purpose of directing 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 access today, this term began to be used in the last years of the 100th century, which means that, for more than XNUMX years, this term has been part of our vocabulary, and has affected several of the decisions taken by governments that have existed.
To be able to meet fullness the story of this term it is important to mention that already 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
Due to what we have read about lobbies, it is possible that we believe that a group that meets to be able to exert pressure before a political or economic decision, we could think that it is an illegal event, however, it is the opposite, due to Since this activity is really regular, the decision has been made to regulate the lobbies. And it is considered that the goal of a lobby 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 although this regulation has been in place for many years, in recent years there has been more progress with respect to the regulation of lobbies, making transparency and standardization of these carried out in a much more effective way and in a way in which all interested parties can satisfy their needs and concerns through this process.
Because the United States is one of the first places in which this begins to be regulated by law, we can find many historical references about these events in that country; For example, we have a phrase by John F. Kennedy, in which the American 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.
So once the governments understood the importance of these lobbies, is when the decision was 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, in addition this allows the direction of the people involved to be always affected for good, because that is the end of politics.
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 for 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 came into being and that they are currently regulated, let's take a look at the way these lobbies are classified, in order to further understand their role in the development of current legislation.
Lobby classification
Employers
The first ones we will mention are the employer lobbies, and it is that its role in the development of modern society is clearly visible. During the years that this practice has been customary, the employers' unions are one of the groups that has a great weight in terms of the decisions that will be taken to define the course of labor laws. This implies that they have greatly affected the way in which hiring is legislated. One of the best known lobbies in Europe is the ERT, known as the European round table of industrialists.
Although it depends on the country to which we refer, 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 a significant part of the economy.
It should also be mentioned that on many occasions special privileges are granted to those who are part of these lobbies, compared to other independent business entities, which on many occasions makes being within these organizations a desire longed for by many companies.
Trade unions
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 XNUMXth century, their existence has been clear when intervening with state decisions.
One of the main topics discussed is the welfare state or welfare state, in which mention is made of state policies that are supposed to 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 in order to be able to guarantee issues such as minimum wages, vacation time, among many others.
Currently there are within this classification, many unions worldwide, which can represent a specific group of workers, for example we can mention the educational unions, or also the mining, oil, agricultural unions, among many others.
And although it is true that you never want the workers' 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 currently there is great competition between the different organizations, which means that workers are dispersed not only in their workplaces, but they cannot even agree on it. to their needs by ensuring each one for their own well-being.
Ecologists
It is not surprising that in recent years we have entered a time where there is an excessive allusion to caring for the environment. Due to the popularity of this topic, many organizations worldwide have been created in order to be able to ensure the ecological well-being of the planet.
The main demands of this kind of lobbies They are to take care of the exploitation of the natural resources that exist on the planet, take care that the emissions created do not harm nature, as well as take care of the pollution that takes place both on land and in water.
Strength and influence of these organizations becomes evident when we mention the carbon emissions legislation, as well as the demand for ecological systems that have to be applied to manufacturing companies, even an ISO organization standard has been created that is focused on the care of the environment, and issues of not only social interest are discussed, but also political and even economic.
Undoubtedly, all these organizations have played a fundamental role in the development of human history, and without a doubt it will continue to be so as long as there are common interests.