Invisible, Unfettered and Predictable—The Patterning of Corporate Political Activity in the UK ()
ABSTRACT
Corporate interests’
access to the UK Cabinet Office shows that corporate political activity in the
UK is common, involving lobbying by large numbers of businesses from a wide
range of industrial sectors—albeit with considerable
sectoral variation. Firm size appears to be the most deterministic variable—larger firms enjoy
significantly more access to government than small and medium-sized firms.
However, most lobbying is undertaken by domestic firms—multinational firms,
despite their size, may concentrate their lobbying on supranational institutions.
Associations representing smaller businesses are also underrepresented. The
patterning and behaviour of corporate political activity in the UK—largely unregulated—mirrors that of
jurisdictions where it is more regulated and monitored; inviting either a
reappraisal of the impact of regulation on lobbying or a consideration of why
UK lobbying, unfettered and relatively invisible, behaves in an identical
manner.
Share and Cite:
Kone, M. and Farnhill, T. (2019) Invisible, Unfettered and Predictable—The Patterning of Corporate Political Activity in the UK.
Open Journal of Business and Management,
7, 1779-1802. doi:
10.4236/ojbm.2019.74123.