Lobbying and Foreign Policy. Paris, Washington, Brussels Note de l'Ifri, No. 54 bis, Paris, 2003, 96 p.

A comparative analysis of the different ways lobbies work in France, in the US, and towards the European Union.

'Lobbying: The French Way', by Olivier Debouzy
Olivier Debouzy argues that the French lobbying activity is 'by definition discrete, obscure and underground'. Through a historical and sociological description of the French 'elite' system, Olivier Debouzy provides explanation to the existence of this other exception française. Relations between the political class and the rest of society have deeply inherited from the 'Court system' which prevailed in France during many centuries. After the Second World War, two major transformations of French society and political system reinforced this 'court system' culture: the first one is the State's taking control of the economy and its increasing in the nation's life after 1495. The second is the standardization of the criteria for selecting the country's administrative, managerial and economic elite. Being an efficient lobbyist in France therefore most likely requires belonging to this elite.

'The Regulation of Lobbyists in the US and the Impact on Washington's Public Policy Think Tanks', by Steven C. Clemons
After a brief description of US lobbying activity legislation, Steve Clemons argues that studies of the lobbying industry in Washington, particularly in regards to foreign policy affairs, should no longer focus on just the firms themselves and the kinds of interactions that they dutifully file under the Lobbying Disclosure Act. He describes a second economy, in which lobbying interests 'take advantage of, co-opt, seduce, manipulate, and even instigate and found less-well regulated non-profit enterprises that are engaged in public policy work'.
The author articulates some of the structural aspects of the lobbying industry's relatively new innovations in the arena of think tanks. He argues that to allow lobbyist influences infiltrate the non-profit public policy sector, without restraint, threatens to fully undermine the legitimacy of the important role of think tanks in public policy, and in foreign policy in particular. He also believes that the problems of corruption of think tanks are systemic ones and not easily remedied. The troubling pattern of 'deep lobbying' and influence peddling via research institutions needs to be broad and serious.

Lobbying the European Union: Do Corporate Interests and Foreign Policy Meet?, by Alan Butt Philip
The main thrust of lobbying effort at the level of the European Union has traditionally been and remains concerned with internal policies, especially those which touch on the single market and the development of trade. Trade however has both an external and an internal dimension, and insofar as the EU institutions seek to regulate or authorize trade relations between third countries and the EU's internal market, there is a foreign policy dimension to such relations. In this paper, Alan Butt-Philip provides a very complete description of the EU institutional system and of the various strategies adopted by the 'EU-lobbying community'. He also points out the positive and negative aspects of lobbying, arguing -just like Olivier Debouzy does- that at the most immediate level, lobbying can be viewed as an inevitable part of the democratic process.