How to Engage with Stakeholders

While the ‘public’ in public policies implies decisions taken by governments, there are many other non-governmental actors in both the superstructure and the engine room. Knowing and understanding these private political actors—stakeholders—and how they interact in the policy process is a key precondition for successful public policy-making. In this chapter, we discuss the role of stakeholders in the policy process and analyse the potential for effective and productive involvement of private actors. We introduce stakeholder mapping as an essential tool in policy analysis. Moreover, we focus on the types of stakeholders and their organizational properties as a way to better understand their role in the policy process. Finally, we show the limits of stakeholder involvement and which red lines should be drawn in order to prevent capture of the policy process by private interests.