Backstage Orchestration: A New Mechanism of Business Influence

The pathways of business influence on policy and regulation are numerous. In this paper I examine one in particular - backstage orchestration. This practice sees a corporation acting as a principle, enrolling diverse agents to speak on its behalf and achieve its aims in policy and regulatory settings. I provide a detailed case study illustrating this practice being deployed in an offensive campaign targeting the WHO. I explain the political constraints which motivate the use of this practice, the psychological mechanisms which explain its efficacy, and I examine its normative status and prospective instruments for its regulation.