Governments create advisory committees and arm’s-length agencies and then delegate responsibilities and powers, sometimes merely to provide policy advice but sometimes to implement regulation. Interest groups, and especially groups representing private businesses, are often appointed to such committees. As a result, they proactively seek appointment to policy advisory committees and boards established by government, believing that this offers one route amongst several to promote their interests to government and to influence public policy. But little is known about whether they are then successful in influencing policy outcomes. This paper addresses that gap – specifically by reviewing interest groups’ perceptions of their effectiveness, given the challenges of assessing actual effectiveness, in policy advisory committees in Kenya. Whilst it is possible that the policy outcomes simply reflect the policy preferences of the interest groups, these groups believe that they exert some influence on the committees on which they sit – through the provision of research evidence, clearly articulated opinion, and reasoned argument – and they further believe that the committees exert some influence on government policy.

Interest groups seek to influence public policy and are often thus perceived to be crucial to the functioning of advanced democracies and to be important contributors to the policy formulation process. Business associations, in particular, specifically seek to influence policy related to the business environment, with the intention of making it easier for their members—and the wider private sector—to “do business”. Even in democracies, scholars question whether interest groups are influential and, if so, the degree to which their activity influences public policy. Very little, however, is known of the approach to advocacy adopted by work and impact of business associations in one-party states. This paper, therefore, explores the efforts of business associations in Vietnam to engage with government. It takes a broad view of their activities and includes examples of success in influencing policy reform. It appears that, whilst business associations in Vietnam avoid direct confrontation, they not only engage successfully with government but also persuade them to do things differently to reduce the burdens imposed on business. Key factors include building trust and mobilising the technical expertise of their members, careful and systematic research, engaging across government, collaborating with other business associations and with research institutes, supplying information, and providing evidence and good argumentation. Lacking the challenges of an opposition party, public private dialogue provides an effective channel for Vietnam’s ministries and agencies to seek feedback from the business community. Indeed, the dynamics of dialogue effectively create some of the democracy observed in multiparty systems of government. This paper makes a clear contribution to our knowledge of the role and strategies of interest groups in a one-party state and finds that they behave similarly to those working in democracies.

The objective of interest groups and business associations is to influence public policy. These organisations accomplish this by engaging in dialogue and advocacy with policymakers, both elected and unelected. A potentially effective, though largely under-researched, approach to gaining influence is to secure appointments to the boards of government agencies, committees and taskforces – many of which have a role in reviewing, proposing or implementing regulations. Unless countries try to maintain registers, it is difficult to even assess the extent of interest group involvement in government committees, let alone to assess the impact achieved through the active participation of the interest group representatives. This paper summarises the results of research conducted with business associations in Kenya. The research addresses the question of whether interest groups participating in government committees are effective at influencing public policy. Business associations in Kenya seek to reform public policy by encouraging policies that improve the environment for business, make it easier to engage in business transactions, promote a vibrant private sector, and create jobs. It offers recommendations both for government and for business membership organisations.

Many scholars argue that the media can influence parliamentarians though the extent of that influence is hotly debated. There is some evidence that the relationship is two way, with politicians taking note of salient media stories but using the media to communicate with their constituents. It is also apparent that, whilst the media may have a role in drawing attention to specific issues, politicians in Kenya do not entirely trust it and thus use a wide range of other sources including government agencies as well as third party sources such as interest groups. This article addresses two gaps in our knowledge―the extent to which parliamentarians in Kenya turn to unofficial sources for information and public opinion, especially interest groups, and the extent to which the media in particular influences parliamentarians in Kenya. The results suggest that parliamentarians in Kenya rely to some extent on both the media and interest groups and that the media is good at raising awareness and stimulating action but that it has only a modest effect on political actions.

Business associations engage in dialogue with policy makers—and sometimes succeed in influencing policy outcomes. One strategy—largely overlooked by researchers— involves seeking appointment to government boards and committees. This is an important omission since many committees review, draft and implement policies and regulations. Securing representation on government committees could thus lead to considerable influence but little is known about the extent to which interest groups seek such appointments. And very little is known about dialogue in developing countries, especially those that seek a consensual rather than an adversarial approach to policy formulation. This research, based on desk research of government committee membership and interviews with business associations, thus addresses two gaps. It has been undertaken in a developing country, Kenya, since there is a relatively small number of interest groups compared to other countries of a similar population. This research focuses on the efforts of interest groups, and business groups in particular, to place nominees on government committees. This article highlights the level of regulatory activity in Kenya effectively delegated to government boards and committees and demonstrates the apparent success of business associations in securing participation in a majority of the committees with a regulatory function. It argues, however, that interest groups could be more professional and more strategic when they are represented on government committees.

Governments formulate public policy to address perceived problems. Sometimes governments need to respond quickly, say, to a health crisis. One policy domain, however, rarely sees a crisis and that is small business. Governments might, therefore, be expected to take a long-term, evidence informed and rational approach, learning from the success of practitioners and policies implemented by other governments and seen to be successful. However, our review of 50 years of small firms policy in England suggests that it has been poorly conceived, short term and without strategic coherence. Part of the reason may be that small firms ministers spend an average of just 19 months in post and are driven by a desire to do something to make their mark. We conclude that this somewhat irrational approach to policy making is driven by a self-imposed “pressure to act swiftly”.

Many scholars argue that the media can influence policymakers – determining the policy agenda, framing issues, prioritising issues and, on occasion, setting the policy as well. It could be, however, that skilled policymakers exploit the media, so that the media in fact reflects the issues that policymakers want debated. This then poses an important question of whether the media does indeed influence the public policy process. The topic of media influence is widely studied in consolidated democracies but there has been limited research in consolidating democracies. This paper addresses both of these gaps – through exploring the extent to which themedia influences policymakers in Kenya, a country perceived to have a moderately free press and one in which a range of interest groups vie to influence government and thus with a media likely to carry a range of competing opinions.

A great deal of research explores the interaction of interest groups and policy makers in consolidated democracies. But little is written about interest groups and their activities in consolidating democracies including whether interest groups adopt similar strategies and approaches to those in consolidated democracies and whether the approaches that they do take are effective. This chapter provides a snapshot of dialogue and advocacy undertaken by a particular form of interest group – business membership organizations – in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), with a focus on Kenya. BMOs aim to influence policy in order to improve the business enabling environment and thus make it easier to “do business.”.