From: Sivasubramanian M <6.Internet@gmail.com>
He calls experts and civil society as lobbyists? Civil Society is Civil Society.
I'm not sure it's useful to pick at wording in a quote unless it really discredits the point being made but yes civil society employs lobbyists, certainly in the US. Does anyone doubt, for example, that in the US the Roman Catholic Church doesn't lobby against abortion, or Planned Parenthood for the status quo of the same issue? And many other organization also of course. I'm not sure if you're trying to say such groups shouldn't be considered part of "Civil Society", or you're saying they are but they don't lobby? Reading you note perhaps you're just interpreting "lobbyist" as a perjorative which it's not, at least not in the US. But they are generally highly interested parties and shouldn't in general be legislators or similar (judges, etc.) But they have every right, within certain boundaries, to lobby those with legislative and legal power. Which is why we try to keep the two roles separate and consider role confusion and conflicts of interest a problem. As to experts of course many are paid to be advocates. I personally worked in research in occupational health and sat at a table with a major insurance company's hired expert. He was absolutely brilliant. As I recall he held a law degree, a medical degree, and a PhD in chemistry. The issue was industrial exposures to toxic chemicals and the insurance company's liability. Some of the points he raised were devastating to the current arguments though could eventually be answered. And we (Harvard) also employed a full-time economist (PhD) whose job was primarily to model the effects of occupational health legislation on the industries involved often reporting before the US congress when relevant legislation was pending. Was he a lobbyist? In a sense, perhaps a lobbyist for facts and numbers in opposition to scare tactics such as some safety measure would put a large number of people out of work. I think the petrochemical, mining, and similar industry would label him a lobbyist of sorts. -- -Barry Shein Software Tool & Die | bzs@TheWorld.com | http://www.TheWorld.com Purveyors to the Trade | Voice: +1 617-STD-WRLD | 800-THE-WRLD The World: Since 1989 | A Public Information Utility | *oo*