Corporate Lobbying & Business Influence

Abstract

This panel examines corporate lobbying and the influence of business interests, focusing on how firms and their collective representatives engage across arenas, levels of government, and regime types. Rather than treating lobbying as a static or purely transactional activity, the contributions conceptualize corporate political engagement as dynamic, relational, and deeply embedded in institutional settings. Across diverse empirical settings, the papers share several overarching themes. First, they highlight venue differentiation as defining features of corporate lobbying. Firms and business associations distribute political effort across bureaucratic, legislative, local, and public arenas, as well as across national, subnational, and supranational levels. Second, the panel foregrounds the organizational and relational foundations of corporate influence. Several contributions emphasize that lobbying effectiveness depends not only on resources, but also on the quality of relationships with policymakers, the internal governance and legitimacy of business associations, and the capacity of firms to act through intermediaries. Third, the papers demonstrate that corporate lobbying strategies evolve in response to political change, salience, and constraint. Whether in democratic or authoritarian systems, firms adapt to shifting modes of governance, regulatory scrutiny and public contestation.

Title	Details
How Economic Elites Shape Public Tax Debates	View Paper Details
Delegated Irresponsibility? The Role and Governance of Business Association in Contemporary Lobbying	View Paper Details
Lobbying Without Lobbyists: Business Access Networks in Provincial China (2005–2024)	View Paper Details
From Policy Regime to Implementation: the Multi-Level Political Work of Supermarket Firms in Paris	View Paper Details
Corporate Political Behaviour: How the Strategies of Large Firms Adapt to Changing Institutional Environments	View Paper Details