Policymaking is a political process which is affected by various social and economic factors and the media plays an integral role in shaping the social context in which policies are developed. Through the media, citizens learn how government policies will affect them, and governments gain feedback on their policies and programs. The media acts as the primary conduit between those who want to influence policy and policymakers controlling the scope of political discourse and regulating the flow of information.

Economic diplomacy is a form of diplomacy. Economic diplomacy is the use of the full spectrum economic tools of a state to achieve its national interest. Economic diplomacy includes all the economic activities, including but not limited to export, import, investment,  lending, aid, free trade agreements etc.

A priority should be pressing the media to play a more substantive role in providing citizens with information, analysis and insight both on how governments make decisions and how those decisions are, and can be, influenced. This means more focus on how citizens, and the civil society organizations they rely on to give voice to many of their beliefs and preferences, can play a more constructive role in forming those decisions.

There are four core recommendations for effective influencing of government decisions.

1. The first is a recognition that there is no 'silver bullet' of public policy advocacy, no single approach that can guarantee success, but there are parctical tangible things that can be done to enhance one's prospects for success, in influencing decisions of government.

Since professional associations were first conceived, one of their biggest and most constant challenges has been answering the questions, "Why should I belong? What is in it for me?" AALEP is no exception. And, in the tradition of professional associations around the world, AALEP answers those questions with a question of its own: "That depends. What do you want?"

Do you want the sense of pride and accomplishment of giving back to the profession?

A common challenge to establishing public policy advocacy efforts in many developing countries is the prevalence of the informal sector that is frequently excluded from existing forms of business representation. A large informal sector weakens democracy, hinders necessary reforms and excludes millions of citizens from the political and economic system of the country.

With the government’s role in business and the economy expanding, leading international business schools and top graduate schools of public policy collaborate to prepare students for global careers in government affairs and business administration. It’s becoming increasingly critical for global business leaders to incorporate public policy issues into their management approach. The recent financial crisis has taught the world that we need greater cooperation and collaboration between the public and private sectors. Markets alone can no longer provide a stable global order.

In the United Kingdom you have what are called ‘All Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs) at the Houses of Parliament. They are formed by MPs and Peers with an interest in a particular country or subject. In general, the groups advocate for or about the thing which is on their name and some receive funding usually to cover administration and some events, from those interests who stand to benefit from the group.

According to Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2012, the countries herebelow are considered to have the most significant corruption. Governments in those countries need to integrate anti-corruption actions into all public decision-making. Priorities include the definition of public policy advocacy rules (where none exist) and political financing, making public spending and contracting more transparent and making public bodies more accountable to people. There are strong correlations between poverty, conflict and perceived levels of corruption.

Does the Transparency Register (TR) component of EU lobby regulation place it in the vanguard of a ‘new wave’ of strong lobby regulation? If the criterion is the extent to which it places information in the public domain, the answer must be a qualified ‘yes.’ There are now more than 5500 individual entries, of which one-third did not select ‘European’ among the territorial level of interests they represent.