This thesis explores the lobbying strategies used by multinational agribusinesses to shape the global food security regime as part of global capitalism management. My case study focuses on how the...Show moreThis thesis explores the lobbying strategies used by multinational agribusinesses to shape the global food security regime as part of global capitalism management. My case study focuses on how the four largest grain traders in the world lobby the Food and Agriculture Organization to promote market-based policies for global food security. I find substantial evidence for four strategies: multi-stakeholder fora, corporate-FAO partnerships, lobbying national governments, and revolving door practices. The four strategies help agribusinesses be involved in decision-making, increase their market and structural power, and promote the private sector as a legitimate and essential actor in the regime’s governance. The findings fit within a neo-Gramscian framework and can be interpreted as strategies used by the transnational capitalist class to support the transnationalization of social relations of production and the promotion of the neoliberal world order.Show less
Het Europees transparantieregister voor lobbyisten is in 2011 geïntroduceerd, in 2015 hervormd en in 2021 verplicht gesteld aan de hand van een interinstitutioneel akkoord. Het...Show moreHet Europees transparantieregister voor lobbyisten is in 2011 geïntroduceerd, in 2015 hervormd en in 2021 verplicht gesteld aan de hand van een interinstitutioneel akkoord. Het transparantieregister heeft als doelstelling om te garanderen dat er een evenwichtige belangenafweging plaatsvindt, dat niemand onder druk wordt gezet en dat besluitvormers en informatie voor iedereen even toegankelijk zijn. Er is onderzocht wat het effect is van de inwerkingtreding van het Europees transparantieregister in 2011 en de hervormingen van het register in 2015 en 2021 op de deelname van maatschappelijke belangenorganisaties aan openbare consultaties. De evenredige belangenvertegenwoordiging die gestimuleerd zou moeten worden door het transparantieregister is onderzocht aan de hand van de beleidscapaciteit van belangenorganisaties en de inzichtelijkheid van het Europees besluitvormingsproces. Hier is uit voortgekomen dat de belangen van maatschappelijke belangenorganisaties inzichtelijker zijn geworden door de hervormingen van het register. Na 2015 konden belangenorganisaties specifieker hun belangen aanmerken, waardoor het onderscheid tussen de verschillende typen belangenorganisaties inzichtelijker werd. De hervormingen van het transparantieregister hebben geleid tot meer verbinding tussen de openbare consultaties en het transparantieregister. In ieder tijdvak neemt het aantal maatschappelijke belangenorganisaties dat deelneemt aan de openbare consultaties en staat ingeschreven in het transparantieregister toe. Echter, zijn maatschappelijke belangenorganisaties die deelnemen aan de openbare consultaties ook na de hervormingen nog steeds minder zichtbaar in het transparantieregister dan andere belangenorganisaties.Show less
In March 2020, the European Union was hit by the Covid-19, which created opportunities for interest groups to put their ideas on the EU political agenda. Scholars observed an increase in lobbying...Show moreIn March 2020, the European Union was hit by the Covid-19, which created opportunities for interest groups to put their ideas on the EU political agenda. Scholars observed an increase in lobbying activity, and NGOs spotted a trend where polluting industries incorporated Covid-19 into their lobbying strategy against environmental regulation. This trend was coined coronawashing. Building on previous research, one could expect that large, well-organized polluting industry lobby groups would successfully use a crisis like Covid-19 to lobby against environmental regulation, as they have done in the past. However, several large, well-organized polluting industries lobby groups failed to Covid-19 to their advantage. This qualitative case study sets out to uncover the underlying conditions why these lobby’s failed by using Kingdon’s multiple stream model (MSM). The goal is to uncover similar failure conditions in coronawashing cases for a future hypothesis. Three cases of polluting industry lobbying groups are selected, namely Copa-Cogeca, BusinessEurope, and EuPC. This research first analyses the cases individually to identify failure conditions and then compares the found failure conditions to identify similarities. In this research, two failure conditions are found across the three coronawashing cases. The first condition is the political time pressure during the Covid-19 pandemic. The European Parliament and EU member states pressured the European Commission to act fast upon the crisis with a recovery plan. The coronawashing lobbies were designed to mobilize supporters against environmental regulation over time, so a mismatch between the lobby strategy and quick actions needed to utilize the opportunity. The second failure condition is a ‘’green political resistance’’ against the lobby interests in the three cases. This green political resistance comes from the European Commission and certain parties in the European parliament which prefer environmental policy. These actors opposed the interests of the lobbying polluting industry groups openly, which caused the lobby’s to fail. These two failure conditions created a barrier that the polluting industries could not overcome.Show less
As a result of large decentralization processes of recent times, Dutch decentral governments have had to increasingly deal with the implementation of laws and regulations coming from the European...Show moreAs a result of large decentralization processes of recent times, Dutch decentral governments have had to increasingly deal with the implementation of laws and regulations coming from the European Union (IPO1 and HNP2, 2015: 9). The decentralization process has allegedly made it therefore increasingly important for Dutch provinces and municipalities to influence European policies, as the latter are ultimately responsible for the implementation of said policies (Mastenbroek et al., 2013: 20). Next to this process of decentralization, another process has simultaneously taken place; namely, the fortification of the position of European provinces and municipalities within the EU decision-making procedure on laws and regulations. The strengthened position of regions and municipalities has been warranted by, among other institutions, the Committee of the Regions (ibid.). Situated in Brussels, the Committee exists of 350 members (and 350 alternates); these members are regionally or locally elected officials within their own member state (“About”, cor.europa.eu). Members write opinions on new EU laws which are proposed by the European Commission. Furthermore, the Committee of the Regions has, through its active promotion of multilevel governance (the institution has issued both a White Paper and a Charter on the application of this theory), established itself as an advocate for the inclusion of subnational governments in European-level policy crafting and implementation. Multilevel governance has been described by the Committee as cooperation between various levels of government (local, regional, national and supranational) (“A Charter to do what?”, portal.cor.europa.eu). The central research question of this thesis pertains to the ways in which Dutch Committee members make use of the Committee, as it has emerged that the Committee has multiple functions. The first chapter of this thesis will feature a theoretical and practical discussion of multilevel governance theory. In the second chapter, the history, functions, and level of influence of the Committee of the Regions will be touched upon. The third and final chapter contains the results of interviews conducted with representatives of both provincial- and municipal Dutch Committee members and an external academic in the field. The central question of chapter three, divided into subquestions, is posed with the purpose of determining in what ways the Dutch representatives have utilized the Committee of the Regions. The conclusion features an analysis as to which features of the Committee might be regarded of as characteristics of a multilevel governance institution.Show less
This thesis explored the role of the Chinese business community during two periods of heightened tension in Sino-Japanese relations, the 2005 history textbook controversy and the 2012 Diaoyu...Show moreThis thesis explored the role of the Chinese business community during two periods of heightened tension in Sino-Japanese relations, the 2005 history textbook controversy and the 2012 Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands dispute. Sino-Japanese relations are often described as having ‘warm’ economic relations, but ‘cold’ political relations. While some scholars argued these relations can coexist without influencing each other, recent studies show that political tensions between China and Japan can also impact economic relations. Because of this, this thesis expected the Chinese business community to attempt to influence the government during periods of heightened Sino-Japanese tension. After an analysis of the voice of governmental actors and the business community in government publications and media sources published around the time of the 2005 and 2012 anti-Japanese protests, this thesis concludes that 1) Chinese businesses attach considerable importance to Sino-Japanese political disputes and in some cases attach more importance to these disputes than financial gain, 2) There is no clear evidence that public attempts to influence the government were made during these two periods.Show less
