10th ECPR Summer School on Interest Group Politics

Lobbying and Political Advocacy: Representing Societal Interests in Times of Turbulence

This summer school offers a unique opportunity for PhD researchers and advanced master students with an interest in lobbying, political advocacy, interest groups, political influence and policy-making. The program covers state-of-the-art theoretical approaches, topics and methods taught by leading scholars. It addresses crucial questions in the study of policy-making and political advocacy, such as how interest organizations mobilize to foster policy change in a complex and multilayered political environment and how political advocacy by a myriad of interest organizations affects the governance of global challenges. In an increasingly interdependent and globalized governance system, policy outcomes may become largely disconnected from the interest of society. The summer school addresses the gap between transnational policy and society, by scrutinizing the transmission belt function of interest groups in a globalized world. In addition, the summer school offers seminars on cutting-edge methodological approaches including large-scale data collection and analyses, survey research, in-depth elite interviewing and experimental research.

Summer School Set - Up

The summer school will consist of 7 substantive courses on lobbying and political advocacy, 4 method sessions, and 4 research discussion sessions. Students will have the opportunity to present and discuss their own research to get feedback from the instructors and the other students. To do so, students are required to submit a research paper of about 6,000 to 8.000 words in advance of the summer school. The best paper will be awarded a prize by the conveners of the ECPR Summer School.

As a graduate student or early career scholar interested in advocacy and policy-making, you do not want to miss out on this opportunity to learn about political advocacy and lobbying research and to network with peers and leading scholars.

Programme