Unit 7А

Unit Text A

Lobbying  The term 'lobbying' means an activity to persuade a government that a particular law or situation should be changed. People engaged in lobbying usually campaign to persuade legislators to make regulations favouring their particular interests. 

Organizations such as charities and pressure groups lobby governments or companies in an effort to persuade them to introduce or change policies. They can use any of the following methods to influence opinion: demonstrations - such as marches and sits-in, petitions - collecting names and signatures on a letter of protest, litigations - taking legal actions against companies or institutions, boycotts - refusing to buy products and services from a targeted company or celebrities to raise public awareness of a cause. 

For example there may be various kinds of demonstrations against local governments plans for nuclear plants to be built close to towns, some boycotting could be organized in regard to employing children to work in manufacturing, or people might be persuaded to sign a letter against killing whales. Many outstanding citizens in Europe and the US can constantly be seen on TV speaking in favour of or against some public issue or some company. For example, many celebrities express the opinion that there ought not to be trade between Europe and Uganda where women and children are engaged in hard labour. They have to grow flowers in order to sell them to Europeans. On the other hand, other  politicians and prominent people believe that this kind of trade should be encouraged because trade between developed and less developed economies allows poorer countries to improve their economies. Many pressure groups think that there should be made an increase of trade between developed and less developed countries because it would bring more benefit than a rise on aid. Many economists and governments agree that the north should do business with the south instead of giving subsidies. They believe that we must listen to so called 'respectable' face of protest (like some celebrities speaking on TV) rather than to large groups of protesters who sometimes use aggressive and violent tactics to draw attention to their case.