Content:
Laws determine to a large extent how we live and they are usually valid for longer periods. It is therefore very gratifying when laws are designed in a way, someone wants them to be designed.
The influence of a single person on the legislative process, however, in view of the many direct participants, for example, several hundred Members of the Bundestag, is usually rather small. And of course not everyone is entitled to participate directly. Yet the right to make legislative proposals is limited.
An offerd resource here to win influence anyhow is to join others. Stakeholders are those coalitions of like-minded people for better enforcement of common goals.
The representative of a stakeholders with an appropriate number of members has incomparably more weight than a single person, which occurs itself.
As part of the legislative process regularly stakeholders are consulted.
Moreover the various stakeholders make their own efforts to persuade politicians in their senses. This targeted nature of the representation of interests is called lobbying. This name is derived from the lobby of parliament, a place where lobbyists and politicians meet each other.
On behalf of their stakeholders lobbyists try to influence policy. The problem here is less the influence per se, but rather the fact that the various stakeholders have different funds available for this activity. Lobbying costs money and this is not evenly distributed among various stakeholders. So the various stakeholders do not have the same possibilities of impact.