In the United States, the term “shadow government” refers to the hidden policy-making process where key decisions are made behind the scenes by a plutocracy. To study this process involves naming and investigating the ensemble of powerful institutional and individual actors operating in the private sphere of socio-economic relations, and their relationships to those in formal governmental policy-making positions.

Author: Gary Hart, Former United States Senator and Presidential Candidate

There has never been a time,when the government of the United States was so perversely and systematically dedicated to special interests, earmarks, side deals, log-rolling, vote-trading, and sweetheart deals of one kind or another. What brought us to this? A sinister system combining staggering campaign costs, political contributions, political action committees, special interest payments for access, and, most of all, the rise of the lobbying class.

Author: Juan Luis Manfredi Sánchez, Professor at the University of Castilla La Mancha

Corporate Diplomacy is the instrumental development of strategy to guide relations between the public authorities and private organisations. It entails defending interests by using tools typically found in diplomacy. Companies become diplomatic entities, without detriment to other conventional activities used in international economic relations.

The Italian government has announced that a much-anticipated referendum on constitutional reform is to be held on December 4th 2016. The aim is to make Italy, a more governable country. Currently, the two legislative chambers have equal powers, so bills must go between them until they are approved in identical form. The constitutional-reform bill would drastically curb the power of the Senate. The referendum proposes to radically transform the Senate – from a chamber of 315 directly elected politicians and six lifetime appointees to smaller “Senate of Regions”.

The role that the media industry plays in Washington poses a threat to democracy. Twenty years ago, President Bill Clinton signed the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The act, signed into law on February 8, 1996, was essentially bought and paid for by corporate media lobbies, and radically opened the floodgates on mergers.

Lobbying is any attempt by individuals or private interest groups to influence the decisions of governments or the votes of legislators. While both corporate diplomacy  and lobbying try to influence on the external sphere, there are fundamental differences:

1. A.P. Moller-Maersk Group
2. ABB Group-Automation and Power Technologies
3. Air Liquie S.A.
4. ALROSA
5. Anglo American plc
6. Anheuser-Bush InBev
7. ArcelorMittal SA
8. ARM Holdings
9. ASML Holding
10. Associated British Foods
11. AstraZeneca plc
12. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria BBVA
13. BASF SE
14. Bayer
15. BG Group plc
16. Bhp Billiton
17. BMW AG
18. British American Tobacco
19. BT Group plc
20. Carlsberg Group
21. Carrefour A
22. Christian Dior SA

Author: Rui Manuel Monteiro, MBA, University of Porto, Portugal 2013

CORPORATE DIPLOMACY INTERVENTION (Ranked by Importance)

1. AUSTRIA http://www.bmeia.gv.at
2. BELGIUM http://www.diplomatie.be
3. BULGARIA http://www.mfa.bg/en/
4. CROATIA http://www.mvep.hr
5. CYPRUS http://www.mfa.gov.cy
6. CZECH REPUBLIC http://www.mfcr.cz
7. DENMARK http://um.dk/da
8. ESTONIA http://vm.ee

COM(2016) 627 final 28.09.2016

The Commission has proposed a mandatory Transparency Register, based on a new Interinstitutional Agreement (IIA) covering the European Parliament, the Council of the EU and the Commission. The proposal aims to strengthen and extend the current scheme which covers only the European Parliament and the Commission.