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Interest groups do not only attempt to influence European legislation by devising and executing their own strategies, or relying on their allies. Almost 50% have also experience in hiring political consultants. Using novel survey data from the policy formulation stage, this study shows that business interest groups are more likely to hire consultancies than non-business interest groups. It suggests that business associations' higher likelihood of hiring consultancies is linked to membership promotion. For firms, it likely relates to their need for specialised lobbying tools and trust-building measures when seeking private goods from policy-makers. Furthermore, the results indicate that consultancy hiring by business interest groups becomes less likely the more they focus on lobbying. This moderation effect highlights that business interest groups show awareness of principal–agent problems and take mitigating action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women are underrepresented within political institutions, which can (negatively) impact policy outcomes. We examine women's descriptive representation as politically appointed staff within ministerial offices. Politically appointed staff are now institutionalised into the policy process, so who they are is important. To date, collecting systematic data on political staff has proved impossible. However, for the first time we demonstrate how to build a systematic data set of this previously unobservable population. We use Australian Ministerial Directories (telephone records) from 1979 to 2010 (a method that can notionally be replicated in advanced democratic jurisdictions), to examine political advising careers in a similar manner as elected political elites. We find that work in political offices is divided on gender lines: men undertake more policy work, begin and end their careers in higher status roles and experience greater career progression than women. We find evidence that this negatively impacts women's representation and their later career paths into parliament. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse how elite politicians in opposition in the Norwegian parliament use information when responding to government propositions and investigate if Chatman's small world conception can explain the socially and economically highly privileged groups' approach to information. Design/methodology/approach: The qualitative analysis of the data consisting of eight interviews with seven members of parliament (MPs) and one political advisor is based on a selective coding grounded to Chatman's six propositions on life in the round. Findings: The overall findings indicate that elite politicians' information practices concentrate in mastering the flow of information and admitting attention selectively, but on broad topics. Whereas MPs information practices within an intentional approach (i.e. to be used in political responses and debates) aligned with the small world idea, the nebulous approach (i.e. keeping updated on societal issues) breaks the boundaries of their "small worlds". Originality/value: The study provides a glimpse into information practises of a little studied group, elite politicians. Moreover, it applies Chatman's conception of small world in a novel manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the views of Kautilya, key adviser to Indian King Chandragupta Maurya, on war and diplomacy. History of ancient India; Information on Kautilya and his science of politics; Diplomacy and foreign policy as extensions of warfare; Discussion on the use of secret agents, assassins, disinformation and propaganda.

An editorial is presented on the challenges faced by European Union countries and other developed nations due to decarbonization, demographic change, digitalization, and recent events like COVID-19, Russian aggression, and energy price crises. It emphasizes the importance of evidence-based policy advice, clear scientific recommendations, and data availability, and its impact on political decision-making.

Sir George Paish (1867-1957) was a British economist whose unique position as a journalist, political advisor, and international traveler gave him access to significant world events and leaders. Paish wrote for and edited the financial magazine The Statist and earned recognition as an expert on British and American railways. He lectured and wrote on economics and international finance throughout his adult life and advised David Lloyd George on economic subjects between 1909-1915. Paish's written works provide insight to early 20th-century economic affairs through the lens of his liberal, free trade philosophy. This article examines many of Paish's most relevant reflections on free trade, following the chronology of his life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This study is based on the descriptive-analytic library method. Three tales were selected for this study: Darab nama Tarsusi, Hamza nama, and Amir Arsalan Namdar. Three motifs were considered in this regard: Darab Nama has a mythical, epical, and historical motif; Hamza Nama has an epicalreligious motif; and the motif of Amir Arsalan Namdar is romantic. The study, on the one hand, aims to investigate what categories of viziers' actions could be extracted from the Iranian folk stories and the factors which play role in this regard, and on the other, to pursue if these actions reveal any historical and social events or they are typical actions throughout the stories. The results of the study showed that there are two kinds of vizier; one kind is "Mobad-vizier" and another is "Sepahbad-vizier". From this point of view, the first one is cultural, social and juridical consultant and the second one is martial consultant. These two kinds of viziers are present in Darab Nama and Hamza Nama. Based on this dual division, the first vizier (Mobad-vizier) has roles such as fortune telling, wedding ceremony, ambassadorship, intercession, dream interpretation, political advisor and magic works. The other vizier, however, is a martial consultant and sometimes shows his treachery and skullduggery. Viziers in the story of Amir Arsalan Namdar are different from viziers in the other two stories. In this story, viziers are categorized as "vizier on the right hand" and "vizier on the left hand". Often the right-hand vizier is a well-mannered, kind-hearted, well-natured person and naturally the supporter of the main hero of the story. The other one, however, is an evil-minded, wicked conspirator and anti-hero. Lastly, it could be mentioned that Hamza nama and Darab nama are reflecting the social and historical events of the Sasanid era, while Amir Arsalan is related to the Qajar period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the multifaceted theoretical orientations and political concerns of, and the urgent need for, queer Italian studies. Critically reflecting on the current social, cultural, political, and economic positions of LGBTQIA+ identified individuals and other minoritised people in Italy, the article maps out diverse but convergent ways of understanding the urgent public and institutional need for interdisciplinary approaches to embodied and theoretical Italian queerness, and the potential impact of this research, activism, and pedagogy. After an exploration into the traces that link queer Italian studies to historical research and feminist history and an elaboration of what a queer Italian pedagogy looks like, this article urges us to look across marginalised publics, so that by using these variegated geopolitical and theoretical positions, languages and praxes, those both inside and outside academia can collectively inform and further the discipline of queer Italian studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes career paths and career considerations among policy professionals in Sweden. It builds on a longitudinal dataset where the professionals' careers are mapped and interviews conducted over a six‐year period. We found that: (1) skills such as the ability to navigate the political system make policy professionals employable in a variety of organizations; (2) considerations regarding different aspects of power were central to their career decisions; and (3) the barriers in their labor market are related to ideological commitments, loyalties, and value hierarchies that make policy professionals reluctant to move anywhere their skills could take them. Related Articles: Corbett, Jack. 2013. "Politicians and Professionalization in the Pacific Islands: Revisiting Self‐Regulation?" Politics & Policy 41 (6): 852‐876. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12050 Francia, Peter L., and Paul S. Herrnson. 2007. "Candidate Attitudes toward Negative Campaigning." Politics & Policy 35 (2): 246‐272. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-1346.2007.00059.x Svallfors, Stefan. 2016. "Out of the Golden Cage: PR and the Career Opportunities of Policy Professionals." Politics & Policy 44 (1): 56‐73. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12149 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Media coverage plays an important role in the political career of politicians. The news media attention that politicians receive depends not only on political and socio-demographic variables, but also on their communication skills and personal characteristics such as physical appearance. This study explores the effect of facial attractiveness on the tone of the televised news coverage of Israeli parliament members. Results demonstrate a positive association between facial attractiveness and the overall coverage. In addition, each unit increase on the attractiveness scale was associated with an increase of 34 percent in the expected number of favorable appearances on TV news, but this association was slightly above the accepted 0.05 criterion for hypothesis testing. There was no significant effect of facial attractiveness on unfavorable or neutral coverage. These findings are interpreted. Implications for journalistic practices, political consultants, and access to the public sphere are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]