Citizen Lobbying As a Self-Management Movement: An Analysis of Spanish Policymaking System

The growing demand for transparency asked by the civil society has been living parallel to discontent and distrust of institutional policies, causing the appearance of new management phenomena of influence and legitimate pressure on decision-making public, anteroom to citizen lobby.

The study of the defense of private interests with the intention of influencing the legislative and executive powers has not been reciprocated with the detailed attention of the doctrine, and when itself has been studied the focus has been exclusively considered traditional, not adapting it to the reality of social and community movements not only in Spain, but in Europe.

Facing with this little doctrinal interest is proposed to extend the concept and adapt it to the european reality, which have been introduced the facts of 'grassroots' and 'astroturf', two forms of community systems in lobbying that turns literally, the social perception of lobbying. The citizen lobby have put on the table a new form of pressure, so the first objective is the revision of the traditional concept of lobbying in order to include astroturfing and grassroots practices of different social movements.

This would show empirically whether this model of participation represents a new approach to concepts such as lobbying or revolving door, analyzing to what extent and modify the participation of new organizations of interests and lobbyists.