Periodic Reporting for period 1 - BIZPOL (Business as political actor – evolving practice, emerging norms and shifting expectations for a pivotal determinant of public trust in both business and democracy (BIZPOL))
Période du rapport: 2019-05-01 au 2022-04-30
In a complex world affected by multiple crises business assumes an important role not only in our economies. As the best resourced and often most effective lobby force business also play a very important and consequential role in politics and therefore also in a broader context in relation to solving the major problems of our times and in relation to the public trust in the workings of our institutions
This project (BIZPOL) set out to better understand the role of business as a political actor. It aimed at examining in more detail the factors that shape this conduct, the practices and patterns of corporate political activity, the expectations of how businesses should behave in the political world and the dynamics and policy-levers that are available to influence these practices and ensure that business can be a positive force helping to respond to some of the most pressing contemporary policy challenges.
The main insights that have resulted from the project include:
- the normative expectations for responsible corporate political activity are evolving continuously. What once were rather basic expectations for transparency and a commitment to good faith communication have now evolved into strong expectations to commit to fundamental principles of respecting planetary boundaries, the democratic process and sector specific public interest goals, alongside more expansive expectations for granular reporting and alignment between corporate lobbying, advertising, purpose and business association membership
- these normative expectations are shaped by an expanding ecosystem of stakeholders that by now has moved beyond money-in-politics advocates and administrative ethics bodies to also include market regulators, shareholders / investors, corporate governance reformers that offer additional pathways to more transparency and accountability for corporate political activity
- the application of corporate influencing strategies to the judiciary beyond litigation - a practice that I term corporate judicial activity - is a highly consequential, yet largely overlooked area in research and policy practice. A first examination of this area shows that corporate lobbying of the judiciary has a long tradition, is substantive in scale and scope, largely driven by a group of highly-incentivized big law firms. The integrity infrastructure of the judiciary to protect against undue influence is however surprisingly underdeveloped and does not match the scale and scope of corporate judicial activity that the judicial system is exposed to
This project (BIZPOL) set out to better understand the role of business as a political actor. It aimed at examining in more detail the factors that shape this conduct, the practices and patterns of corporate political activity, the expectations of how businesses should behave in the political world and the dynamics and policy-levers that are available to influence these practices and ensure that business can be a positive force helping to respond to some of the most pressing contemporary policy challenges.
The main insights that have resulted from the project include:
- the normative expectations for responsible corporate political activity are evolving continuously. What once were rather basic expectations for transparency and a commitment to good faith communication have now evolved into strong expectations to commit to fundamental principles of respecting planetary boundaries, the democratic process and sector specific public interest goals, alongside more expansive expectations for granular reporting and alignment between corporate lobbying, advertising, purpose and business association membership
- these normative expectations are shaped by an expanding ecosystem of stakeholders that by now has moved beyond money-in-politics advocates and administrative ethics bodies to also include market regulators, shareholders / investors, corporate governance reformers that offer additional pathways to more transparency and accountability for corporate political activity
- the application of corporate influencing strategies to the judiciary beyond litigation - a practice that I term corporate judicial activity - is a highly consequential, yet largely overlooked area in research and policy practice. A first examination of this area shows that corporate lobbying of the judiciary has a long tradition, is substantive in scale and scope, largely driven by a group of highly-incentivized big law firms. The integrity infrastructure of the judiciary to protect against undue influence is however surprisingly underdeveloped and does not match the scale and scope of corporate judicial activity that the judicial system is exposed to
Four thematic work streams (implemented part-time between May 2019 and July 2023) mixed a variety of methods and approaches to respond to the main research questions outline above.
An eco-system perspective was applied to map interest, influencing strategies and expectations of different relevant stakeholder groups and assemble a comprehensive account of how normative expectations about what constitutes responsible corporate political conduct have evolved over time and are likely to further evolve in the future. Two main insights from this work are that:
a) expectations are gradually evolving from process- (e.g. transparency) and general principles (e.g. truthfulness) to more specific, substantive commitments (e.g. respecting democratic principles and planetary boundaries;
b) a novel corporate political accountability ecosystem is in the making that covers corporate governance, consumer- and investor protection as well as various market regulation mechanisms and that is likely to be much more effective and influential than conventional money-in-politics regulation around lobbying registers or legislative footprints that face sever enforcement and coverage issues.
A number of scoping exercises, paired with qualitative expert interview analysis have been conducted to gain a better understanding of patterns and trends in corporate political practice. One major insights from this workstream is the surfacing of the almost completely overlooked, yet highly relevant and consequential area of corporate judicial activity – how companies deploy lobbying and public relations tactics to influence the judiciary. Other interesting insights pertain to the role of corporate political activity for start-up platform companies and need to focus more attention on the role of lobbying agents such as law firms and business associations who play very important roles in the corporate political activity world and influence both practices and their impact yet remain rather underexamined with regard to their own internal dynamics and normative expectations that should apply to their own conduct in this area.
A speculative outlook that combines evidence analysis of emergent trends and speculative scenario-construction has been deployed to map a plausible for how the role of business as political actor will develop over the coming five years. Termed full-stack citizenship 2028, this outlook describes a scenario in which due to increasing polarization, populism and digitally-leveraged political communication businesses will increasingly become vehicles and staging grounds for political activity by consumers, workers, company leaders and investors. This scenario is highly ambivalent, as it on the one hand portends the disruptive politicisation of ever more spheres of life yet at the same time also comes with considerable appeal to move closer to a central ambition of liberal democracy: citizens will be able to much more closely align their lives as economic actors with their political convictions as a prerequisite for human efficacy and flourishing. This idea of full-stack citizenship has already animated a lively debate in the policy and practitioners’ community.
Aside from academic working papers and submissions the insights and findings of the projects have been disseminated in a number of blogposts, workshops (CBS, various online), conference (e.g. ECPR) and policy-related events, including at the OECD, the Good Lobby Summer School, a workshop at HEC Paris on lobbying the judiciary.
On basis of the BIZPOL work the principal investigator has been invited as expert participant into the process of developing guidelines for responsible corporate political engagement (2023/24).
An eco-system perspective was applied to map interest, influencing strategies and expectations of different relevant stakeholder groups and assemble a comprehensive account of how normative expectations about what constitutes responsible corporate political conduct have evolved over time and are likely to further evolve in the future. Two main insights from this work are that:
a) expectations are gradually evolving from process- (e.g. transparency) and general principles (e.g. truthfulness) to more specific, substantive commitments (e.g. respecting democratic principles and planetary boundaries;
b) a novel corporate political accountability ecosystem is in the making that covers corporate governance, consumer- and investor protection as well as various market regulation mechanisms and that is likely to be much more effective and influential than conventional money-in-politics regulation around lobbying registers or legislative footprints that face sever enforcement and coverage issues.
A number of scoping exercises, paired with qualitative expert interview analysis have been conducted to gain a better understanding of patterns and trends in corporate political practice. One major insights from this workstream is the surfacing of the almost completely overlooked, yet highly relevant and consequential area of corporate judicial activity – how companies deploy lobbying and public relations tactics to influence the judiciary. Other interesting insights pertain to the role of corporate political activity for start-up platform companies and need to focus more attention on the role of lobbying agents such as law firms and business associations who play very important roles in the corporate political activity world and influence both practices and their impact yet remain rather underexamined with regard to their own internal dynamics and normative expectations that should apply to their own conduct in this area.
A speculative outlook that combines evidence analysis of emergent trends and speculative scenario-construction has been deployed to map a plausible for how the role of business as political actor will develop over the coming five years. Termed full-stack citizenship 2028, this outlook describes a scenario in which due to increasing polarization, populism and digitally-leveraged political communication businesses will increasingly become vehicles and staging grounds for political activity by consumers, workers, company leaders and investors. This scenario is highly ambivalent, as it on the one hand portends the disruptive politicisation of ever more spheres of life yet at the same time also comes with considerable appeal to move closer to a central ambition of liberal democracy: citizens will be able to much more closely align their lives as economic actors with their political convictions as a prerequisite for human efficacy and flourishing. This idea of full-stack citizenship has already animated a lively debate in the policy and practitioners’ community.
Aside from academic working papers and submissions the insights and findings of the projects have been disseminated in a number of blogposts, workshops (CBS, various online), conference (e.g. ECPR) and policy-related events, including at the OECD, the Good Lobby Summer School, a workshop at HEC Paris on lobbying the judiciary.
On basis of the BIZPOL work the principal investigator has been invited as expert participant into the process of developing guidelines for responsible corporate political engagement (2023/24).
BIZPOL has innovated at the conceptual level by applying a rather original ecosystem approach to generate a 360-degree view on the dynamics that shape expectations about corporate political responsibility. Both conceptually and empirically it has broken new ground and potentially opened a completely new area of inquiry by identifying the overlooked theme of corporate judicial activity, how business engaged with the judiciary and broader justice system beyond litigation. This has repercussions for understanding both theoretically and empirically corporate non-market strategy. And this area is also highly policy relevant given increasing challenges to judicial independence in many countries.
BIZPOL has already contributed to policy visibility and potential impact in several contexts. Ideas from the project have been featured in a practitioners’ summer academy, in a major assessment exercise of sustainability reporting and rating frameworks and, perhaps most importantly provide continuing input to a ongoing OECD initiative to formulate guidance and principles for corporate political responsibility.
BIZPOL has already contributed to policy visibility and potential impact in several contexts. Ideas from the project have been featured in a practitioners’ summer academy, in a major assessment exercise of sustainability reporting and rating frameworks and, perhaps most importantly provide continuing input to a ongoing OECD initiative to formulate guidance and principles for corporate political responsibility.