Topic Guide: Undue Influence

Lifting the lid on lobbying. Transparency International, 2015. https://www.transparency.org/w...

This report examines the practice of lobbying and attempts to regulate it in 19 countries in Europe and in the European Union (EU). It looks into the three critical dimensions of what Transparency International considers to be strong lobbying regulation: whether ordinary people have access to information about who is influencing public decisions in European countries; how effectively countries promote ethical conduct among lobbyists and public officials; and how open decision-making is to a plurality of voices representative of a wide range of interests. The results are rather sobering and suggest that attempts to promote standards of open and ethical lobbying by both governments and lobbyists have been piecemeal and ineffective.  

Progress made in implementing the OECD Principles for Transparency and Integrity in Lobbying. OECD, 2014. www.slideshare.net/OECD-GOV/pr...  

This report outlines the progress made in implementing the OECD Principles for Transparency and Integrity in Lobbying by OECD member states. The recommendation for Principles for Transparency and Integrity in Lobbying were adopted in 2010. The report not only evaluates the current implementation of the principles but also makes general recommendations related to each of the 10 principles.

Lobbying and transparency: A comparative analysis of regulatory reform. Holmana, C. and Luneburg, W., 2012. Interest Groups & Advocacy (2012) 1, 75–104. doi:10.1057/iga.2012.4.

www.palgrave-journals.com/iga/...  

The authors compare lobbying regulations in the United States and Canada with recently adopted rules in Europe. One of the main differences observed relates to the fact that lobbyist regulation in the US and Canada emerged as an effort to manage a highly developed class of professional lobbyists within the strictures of long-standing democratic principles. On the other hand, early European lobbyist regulations focused not on transparency as a means to regain public confidence in government, but on providing business interests with access to lawmakers as a means to bolster fledgling economies. In order to discern ‘best’ practices for achieving transparency through lobbying regulation, the authors first chart the regulatory systems of the United States and Canada. That is followed by an analysis of all of the European lobbying regimes. Recommendations on how to enhance transparency in policymaking is also offered.