AALEP SUPPORTS RESEARCH AND EDUCATION IN GR

Government Relations work entails handling various policy dialogues with a government and related institutions, and  it requires significant experience of working either within or with government, politics or a regulatory agency, as well as an ability to grasp and communicate complex technical and policy issues to a wide range of stakeholders.

Typically, it means

• Representing an employer and/or client at the highest levels of policy-making.
• Developing and driving campaigns across the full range of policy areas that impact an employer and/or client
• Building a network of trade associations, industry partners, non-profit groups and others to support chosen policies
• Leading and empowering a Government Affairs team
• Ensuring relevant and timely internal communications and information flow locally, and vis-a-vis global colleagues.

To succeed one needs

• Public-speaking experience
• Ability to get up to speed quickly on complex issues.
• Familiarity with specific issues  and the policy and political environments that surround them.
• First-rate personal, political, analytical and organizational skills.
• Strong written and spoken communication skills.

Because of the specificity of Government Relations, AALEP supports the launch of a Government Relations Education and Research Association (GRERA). GRERA would be an autonomous organisation aiming to stimulate and promote innovative knowledge and practices of government relations education and research worldwide. GRERA would cooperate with the most prominent Lobbyists’ associations, scientific journals and practitioners coming from different countries.

The academic staff and researchers would constitute the explicit public group of the association as well as any practitioner who wants to keep informed about the most recent developments regarding fundamental and applied research and about the new trends in the educational field.

GRERA would

• Provide a forum where researchers and others involved in Government Relations research can meet and exchange information and documentation about their work;
• Encourage the development of research and systematic study, especially on subjects and areas where such work is not well developed;
• Stimulate academic and intellectual interest in Government Relations research, and promote communication and cooperation between members of the Association;
• Co-ordinate the circulation of information on Government Relations research with a view to establishing a database of ongoing research;
• Encourage, support, and where possible, publish, the work of young researchers in Europe  and the rest of the world;
• Develop links with relevant national and international Government Relations organisations and with professional Government Relations researchers working for commercial organisations and regulatory institutions, both public and private;
• Promote the interests of Government Relations research within and among the Member States of the Council of Europe and the European Union;
• Collect and disseminate information concerning the professional position of Government Relations researchers in the European region ; and
• Develop, improve and promote Government Relations education.

* Governnment Relations is a broad term encompassing Public Affairs, Public Policy Advocacy, Lobbying.