ABSTRACT
The introductory chapter begins with the assumption that having information is key for most political decisions. If that is true, then supplying information to decision-makers is one of the most important lobbying strategies. This means that many different societal interests compete against each other to persuade decision-makers to take stakeholders’ interests into account when formulating legislative texts. Stakeholders that frame information in a certain way are said to be more successful at lobbying: to frame means to select and highlight certain information while omitting other information. For example, stakeholders might concentrate on economic aspects and omit the social elements of a policy. The main question this book addresses is: Which of these different frames help stakeholders to achieve their goals and be more successful at lobbying?
Additionally, this chapter discusses the key concepts of influence, power and success and why the latter should be chosen when studying potential bias in decision-making. The different legislative institutions of the EU are presented and explained at the end of the chapter.
