Definition
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.”
There are various reasons to examine business interest groups in Africa. Interest groups in developing countries have been under-researched in the academic literature, leading Mahoney (2008: 218) to assert that more research is required in this area. In doing so, she poses several...
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Irwin, D. (2021). African Approaches to Dialogue and Advocacy. In: Harris, P., Bitonti, A., Fleisher, C.S., Skorkjær Binderkrantz, A. (eds) The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Interest Groups, Lobbying and Public Affairs . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-13895-0_230-1
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