Government Relations (GR) is an educational process mixed in with a liberal amount of advocacy. Simply put, it is an essential component of any business that is subject to government regulations.

At its core, Government Relations is an educational process: educating business and industry leaders about governmental process; educating officials about the issues important to business or other constituencies; and educating governmental and business leaders, and the public, about the potential consequences of legislation.

AALEP believes that a deeper knowledge of what GR is about and does among the general public would help increase GR professional credibility and would work as a stimulus for further professionalism. The question of obtaining recognition by public authorities is not, however settled throughout Europe. Some believe that an increment of GR professional credibility will lead to a concrete recognition by public authorities; others think that it is public authorities that will lead to professional credibility.

The International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO) is the voice of public relations consultancies around the world. The ICCO membership comprises national trade associations in 32 countries across the globe: from Europe, Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australasia. Collectively, these associations represent over 2,500 PR firms.

ICCO provides a forum for senior management of the world's best PR consultancies to meet and address issues of mutual interest and concerns.

Institutionalising GR can take place either internally or externally in organisations. External institutionalisation of GR, either by law or public recognition, does not imply an internal institutionalisation (within an organisation and clients). The process of institutionalisation is inevitably connected to the level of credibility and professionalism that our profession demonstrates. It is much dependent on our credibility as GR Practitioners. Credibility is the probability of being believed.

Vision, Mission & Values

The Global Alliance’s vision is to enhance the role and value of public relations and communication management to organizations, and to global society. The Global Alliance pursues this vision through leadership and service to the profession, defining universal principles that unite its professional associations and their members while embracing a diversity that enables different applications in different parts of its global community.

Mission

The mission of the Global Alliance is:

Founded in early 2013 Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) focused its initial efforts on opposing the Merkel government’s handling of the eurozone crisis. Following Europe's economic downturn in 2008, national deficits and unemployment soared while growth stalled throughout the continent. As the largest economy in Europe, Germany led the charge of bailouts of debt-ridden Southern European countries,and the party attracted voters who believed Merkel’s policies were not in the interest of the German people.

Les activités de lobbying en Suisse font face aujourd’hui à de nouveaux défis et à un contexte en pleine mutation. L’agenda politique suisse évolue rapidement, sous la pression notamment du contexte européen. Les normes et les lois se multiplient alors que les exigences de transparence se font de plus en plus entendre. Enfin, des branches économiques jusqu’à là silencieuses entreprennent à leur tour de défendre leurs intérêts.

Source: LobbyFacts.eu. The ranking shows the number of registered entities organisations by country of head office. The data displayed is based on information gathered from the EU Transparency Register (Possible errors)

Purpose  

Practice area at the professional level is a generally recognised or distinctive area of knowledge and expertise developed by a GR Practitioner by virtue of the path of education, training and experience followed.

Author: Cornelius Winter, Gründer und Managing Partner von 365 Sherpas – Corporate Affairs & Policy Advice und Gründungsvorstand der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Politikberatung (de’ge’pol)