Thesis (M.A.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Department of Political Science, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

Submitted by Maria Concetta Miranda (maria.miranda2015@fgvmail.br) on 2015-01-27T17:32:28Z No. of bitstreams: 1 ThesisMariaConcettaMiranda_APPROVED.pdf: 1616737 bytes, checksum: c25dcfd17f22a48a71f731d84dc65ff2 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Janete de Oliveira Feitosa (janete.feitosa@fgv.br) on 2015-02-04T19:23:52Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 ThesisMariaConcettaMiranda_APPROVED.pdf: 1616737 bytes, checksum: c25dcfd17f22a48a71f731d84dc65ff2 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Marcia Bacha (marcia.bacha@fgv.br) on 2015-02-11T19:03:10Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 ThesisMariaConcettaMiranda_APPROVED.pdf: 1616737 bytes, checksum: c25dcfd17f22a48a71f731d84dc65ff2 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-02-11T19:12:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ThesisMariaConcettaMiranda_APPROVED.pdf: 1616737 bytes, checksum: c25dcfd17f22a48a71f731d84dc65ff2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-10-28 / The research topic of this paper is focused on the analysis of how trade associations perceive lobbying in Brussels and in Brasília. The analysis will be centered on business associations located in Brasília and Brussels as the two core centers of decision-making and as an attraction for the lobbying practice. The underlying principles behind the comparison between Brussels and Brasilia are two. Firstof all because the European Union and Brazil have maintained diplomatic relations since 1960. Through these relations they have built up close historical, cultural, economic and political ties. Their bilateral political relations culminated in 2007 with the establishment of a Strategic Partnership (EEAS website,n.d.). Over the years, Brazil has become a key interlocutor for the EU and it is the most important market for the EU in Latin America (European Commission, 2007). Taking into account the relations between EU and Brazil, this research could contribute to the reciprocal knowledge about the perception of lobby in the respective systems and the importance of the non-market strategy when conducting business. Second both EU and Brazilian systems have a multi-level governance structure: 28 Member States in the EU and 26 Member States in Brazil; in both systems there are three main institutions targeted by lobbying practice. The objective is to compare how differences in the institutional environments affect the perception and practice of lobbying, where institutions are defined as ‘‘regulative, normative, and cognitive structures and activities that provide stability and meaning to social behavior’’ (Peng et al., 2009). Brussels, the self-proclaimed 'Capital of Europe', is the headquarters of the European Union and has one of the highest concentrations of political power in the world. Four of the seven Institutions of the European Union are based in Brussels: the European Parliament, the European Council, the Council and the European Commission (EU website, n.d.). As the power of the EU institutions has grown, Brussels has become a magnet for lobbyists, with the latest estimates ranging from between 15,000 and 30,000 professionals representing companies, industry sectors, farmers, civil society groups, unions etc. (Burson Marsteller, 2013). Brasília is the capital of Brazil and the seat of government of the Federal District and the three branches of the federal government of Brazilian legislative, executive and judiciary. The 4 city also hosts 124 foreign embassies. The presence of the formal representations of companies and trade associations in Brasília is very limited, but the governmental interests remain there and the professionals dealing with government affairs commute there. In the European Union, Brussels has established a Transparency Register that allows the interactions between the European institutions and citizen’s associations, NGOs, businesses, trade and professional organizations, trade unions and think tanks. The register provides citizens with a direct and single access to information about who is engaged in This process is important for the quality of democracy, and for its capacity to deliver adequate policies, matching activities aimed at influencing the EU decision-making process, which interests are being pursued and what level of resources are invested in these activities (Celgene, n.d). It offers a single code of conduct, binding all organizations and self-employed individuals who accept to 'play by the rules' in full respect of ethical principles (EC website, n.d). A complaints and sanctions mechanism ensures the enforcement of the rules and addresses suspected breaches of the code. In Brazil, there is no specific legislation regulating lobbying. The National Congress is currently discussing dozens of bills that address regulation of lobbying and the action of interest groups (De Aragão, 2012), but none of them has been enacted for the moment. This work will focus on class lobbying (Oliveira, 2004), which refers to the performance of the federation of national labour or industrial unions, like CNI (National Industry Confederation) in Brazil and the European Banking Federation (EBF) in Brussels. Their performance aims to influence the Executive and Legislative branches in order to defend the interests of their affiliates. When representing unions and federations, class entities cover a wide range of different and, more often than not, conflicting interests. That is why they are limited to defending the consensual and majority interest of their affiliates (Oliveira, 2004). The basic assumption of this work is that institutions matter (Peng et al, 2009) and that the trade associations and their affiliates, when doing business, have to take into account the institutional and regulatory framework where they do business.

Submitted by paulo junior (paulo.jr@fgv.br) on 2010-03-10T18:49:58Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Fabio Assumpção.pdf: 862073 bytes, checksum: 10efc6a89f1f1a0036b121cc26d7faab (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by paulo junior(paulo.jr@fgv.br) on 2010-03-10T18:50:14Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Fabio Assumpção.pdf: 862073 bytes, checksum: 10efc6a89f1f1a0036b121cc26d7faab (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2010-03-12T13:17:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Fabio Assumpção.pdf: 862073 bytes, checksum: 10efc6a89f1f1a0036b121cc26d7faab (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-09-25 / O presente estudo se caracteriza como uma dissertação de Mestrado, e foi desenvolvido como parte das exigências para obtenção do grau de Mestre do curso de Master in International Management (MIM ). Seu objetivo concentra-se na análise da importância da gestão de temas críticos e relacionamentos institucionais nas empresas, tema pouco explorado por acadêmicos, pensadores e executivos de multinacionais brasileiras. Empresas em processo de internacionalização encontram diversos riscos e desafios quando decidem investir ou fazer negócios fora de sua área geográfica de domínio. Destaque costuma ser dado a variáveis tangíveis de avaliação, como logística, infra estrutura, marketing, vendas, energia, finanças, ativos e recursos humanos. Já as vertentes intangíveis, como uma avaliação de questões críticas de cunho institucional ou a percepção dos principais públicos de interesse da organização e consecutiva estratégia de engajamento, costuma ter pouca atenção e, muitas vezes, pode comprometer a viabilidade ou a sustentação de um empreendimento no longo prazo. O antigo jargão que diz que 'informação é poder' continua sendo empregado nas grandes corporações e tido como uma vantagem competitiva dos funcionários que a possuem. Porém, pouco se reflete ou se procura normatizar sobre a importância da estruturação de uma rede de contatos ou banco de informações compartilhadas entre os executivos com responsabilidades de interlocução externa. Por meio de um modelo de gestão adotado por empresas globais, o issues management, este estudo procura chamar atenção para a imprescindibilidade de um processo mais austero na gestão de temas críticos e relacionamentos institucionais. Conceitos aplicados à realidade de empresas multinacionais, como lobby, negociações, diplomacia, diplomacia corporativa e relações institucionais serão explorados ao longo da 8 dissertação com o objetivo de apresentar uma clara relação entre as práticas institucionais de uma organização e sua imagem perante o público externo.

This paper examines the determinants of tax lobbying report compliance and issues lobbied. Disclosure rules under the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 and Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 require lobbyists to disclose the issues on which they lobby the U.S. federal government. Despite these disclosure rules, I find substantial variation in the level of compliance with the Act related to tax issues. Using a hand-collected dataset of corporate tax lobbying reports, I find that only 68.4% of these reports are fully compliant with the Act, on average. Notably, the percentage of compliant tax lobbying reports has declined significantly over time, from almost 90% compliance in 2008 to less than 50% compliance by 2017, with some rebound to about 60% by 2019. I find greater compliance when lobbying reports are filed by in-house lobbyists, by revolving door lobbyists, for lobbying activity related to the Department of the Treasury, later in the year, and with a higher tax lobbying dollar amount, and lower compliance for larger firms. Additionally, I identify that the major tax issues lobbied relate to international taxes, investment incentives, and non-income taxes. I find that lobbying reports that mention either international taxes or investment incentives are more likely to have a higher tax lobbying dollar value, suggesting they are more valuable to corporations than non-income taxes. Overall, this paper provides detailed evidence on firms’ compliance with federal disclosure laws related to tax lobbying, the nature of tax issues being lobbied, and the role of lobbyists in advocating for those issues.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Carleton University, 1999. / Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

xii, 116 p. : ill. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / The following essays address the impact of special interest groups on economic decision making processes. The hypothesis of the first essay is that there exists a dynamic relationship between politicians and lobby groups. Politicians may choose to support "projects" proposed to them by lobbies because they yield clear economic benefits. However, governmental support may continue after these benefits have been exhausted, implying a cost to society and yielding rents to the lobbies. A theoretical framework is developed to model the incentives a government might have to behave in a manner consistent with the hypothesis. In this structure despite the fact that they support projects from which all economic rents have been extracted, politicians are rationally reelected. In the second chapter I examine how structural changes in the US steel industry affect the voting behavior of House Representatives on trade related bills. The hypothesis is that Representatives face opposing incentives after the PBGC bailed out the pension plans of major steel firms. Representatives have an incentive to vote less for protectionist policies, because the bailout makes the steel firms more competitive. But the Representatives also have an incentive to yield to the demands of affected steel workers, who favor more protection after the bailout. The data set underlying this study is a panel including votes on trade related bills over 9 years. The results obtained using fixed effects techniques support the hypothesis. In the third chapter, I develop a theoretical model of the dissolution of countries. I model a society with two different groups of citizens, who have different preferences over public goods, to analyze under which political regime the dissolution of these groups into separate countries is most likely. Differentiating between revolutions and civil wars allows me to look at the effects of both forms of political violence. I find that while the threat of a revolution can induce oligarchies to increase the franchise, the threat of a civil war can induce a. country to dissolve peacefully. The model predicts that peaceful dissolution is more likely in democracies, whereas oligarchies are more likely to risk civil war to stay united. / Committee in charge: Christopher Ellis, Co-Chairperson, Economics; Bruce Blonigen, Co-Chairperson, Economics; Glen Waddell, Member, Economics; Michael Dreiling, Outside Member, Sociology

Lobbying - Economic and Legal aspects Abstract The diploma thesis deals with lobbying and its economic and legal aspects. The aim of the thesis is to present lobbying from a broad perspective in the context of other regulations by using descriptive, comparative and analytical methods and to provide a comprehensive overview of the development of efforts to regulate lobbying in the Czech Republic. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of the last governmental regulatory initiative where I am testing a hypothesis of whether the underway regulation is systemically correct in light of examples in other countries. I also conducted two surveys aimed at finding out the attitudes of members of the law academia and members of the lower house of the Parliament of the Czech Republic to the regulation of lobbying in the Czech Republic. The data serve both to (i) illustrate the interpretation of lobbying across the work, (ii) but also because of the specific proposed variant of lobbying within the framework of the approved substantive intent of the lobbying law (the deadline for submitting a paragraph to the government is set to end 2018), and (iii) I believe that they can be useful even when finalizing the bill, or other later proposed measures under the de lege ferenda considerations on lobbying. The thesis is...

This thesis examines the growth of commercial lobbying in Scotland with the devolution of political power to Edinburgh in 1999. The study analyses the nascent public affairs community in Edinburgh in the lead up to, and during, the first session of the Scottish Parliament. This period covers the public debate at Holyrood over the registration and regulation of outside interests, and examines both the public and private political communication of those actors involved. The evidence base for this thesis is drawn from archival and documentary research, extended observational fieldwork in Edinburgh, and in depth interviews with informants from lobbying consultancies, corporations, voluntary sector organisations, elected representatives and public servants. A key focus of this study is the role of commercial and corporate lobbyists in Scottish public affairs and the Scottish public sphere. The analysis concludes that the Scottish Parliament's founding principles of openness, equality and accountability could be served through the regulation of lobbying.

Diploma thesis "Interest Groups, lobbying and it's regulation in the Czech Republic" deals with the phenomenon of lobbying and it's role in democratic political processes. First part of this thesis is aimed at political theories of interest groups, various definitions of lobbying and methods of regulating lobbyists. The second part containes a comparison of lobbying regulations in various western states. The third part containes an analysis of the present state of lobbying regulation in the Czech Republic. In the final fourth part, certain methods of lobbying regulation are proposed to take place in the Czech Republic and scrutinized for compliance with the oppinion of Czech political elites and professional lobbyists.

This dissertation work deals with the subject of a company in the area of e-commerce, which represents short-term or long-term plans in controlling the financial relationship toward the outer environment but also inside the company. The problem of possible abuse of credit cards is briefly analysed as well. The impulse for choosing this topic was increasing number of falsification and abusing of credit cards. When this subject is analysed in detail, the problem connected with lack of information on this particular area of crime inevitably appears. Clients of individual banking institutions often do not have even the basic knowledge about the ways their cards could be abused or misused. This is why the question of certain, at least minimal, basic information campaign done by the banks, which are supposed to protect the financial means of their clients. This dissertation work sets its goal in creating the methods of investigation of credit cards abuse not only in the Czech Republic but in the growing system of countries of Schengen Treaty and European Union. The benefit of the work can be seen in the level of theory as well of practice. The theoretical part of the work contains the analysis of the current situation of scientific knowledge in the area of information and communication technology of companies, which is implemented into information systems. Then the advantages and disadvantages connected with this kind of e-commerce are assessed and the specific opportunities for abuse of these media of payment are characterised. The problem sees mainly in writing a specialised publication, which would deal with the problem of abuse and falsification of credit cards and its possible use would be at police academies. Its main part should be the characteristics of particular forms of cards forging and also possible identification of these forgeries. This book could also help in prevention and inform clients of financial institutions about the ways of credit cards abuse. In the practical part, which concentrates on the Czech and foreign market, the author sets the basic premises for realisation of safe business of companies in the Czech Republic and its procedures. Furthermore the reasons of e-commerce abuse in the Czech Republic are analysed and results of quantification research presented. This was concentrated on ascertainment of reason of low interest in information among the public. In the conclusive part of the work the whole problem is summarised and there are also outlined perspectives and possibilities of further development