Regulation is on the rise across the world as the state steps back from public ownership. However, as the authors highlight, the style of political delegation to regulatory authorities has not followed a uniform trajectory but rather institutional endowments, administrative traditions, market structure and business culture have all influenced the creation of regulatory authorities and implementation styles. Noting these variances, the focus of this book is to consider the impact of liberalisation and the introduction of new regulatory structures on three utility sectors - telecommunications, energy and the railways - using Germany and the UK as case studies. With regulation seeking to foster competition at the same time as also having to protect essential services, the authors investigate regulatory styles, costs of new regulatory functions and how firms in the new regulatory landscape access and influence regulatory authorities. The authors consider how EU pressures may hinder or help the functioning of new regulatory markets and the establishment of business-regulator relationships, as well as the broader policy implications for these new regulatory environments. The book also determines how regulatory authorities emerge and evolve under different state traditions and assesses, over time, the degree to which there is potential for convergence, divergence and continued differences as regulatory functions mature. This book will be warmly welcomed by researchers and academics of comparative public policy, politics and regulation. It will also appeal to policy makers and the business community in Europe.

This comprehensive volume brings together the key articles on relations between business and government from a variety of perspectives and disciplines. The editors have selected works that explore the themes of business and the state, organizing the firm for political action, managing government affairs, lobbying models, business governance and regulation, comparative business - political systems and internationalization and transnational business regulation. With an original introduction by the editors, this volume is an essential resource for scholars, students and policy makers interested in political science, business studies and economics.

Business is one of the major power centres in modern society. The state seeks to check and channel that power so as to serve broader public policy objectives. However, if the way in which business is governed is ineffective or over burdensome, it may become more difficult to achieve desired goals such as economic growth or higher levels of employment. In a period of international economic crisis, the study of how business and government relate to each other in different countries is of more central importance than ever.
These relationships have been studied from a number of different disciplinary perspectives--business studies, economics, economic history, law, and political science-- and all of these are represented in this handbook. The first part of the book provides an introduction to the ways in which five different disciplines have approached the study of business and government. The second section, on the firm and the state, looks at how these entities interact in different settings, emphasising such phenomena as the global firm and varieties of capitalism. The third section examines how business interacts with government in different parts of the world, including the United States, the EU, China, Japan and South America. The fourth section reviews changing patterns of market governance through a unifying theme of the role of regulation. Business-government relations can play out in divergent ways in different policy and the fifth section examines the contrasts between different key arenas such as competition policy, trade policy, training policy and environmental policy.
The volume provides an authoritative overview with chapters by leading authorities on the current state of knowledge of business-government relations, but also points to ways in which this work might be developed in the future, e.g., through a political theory of the firm.
About the Series
Oxford Handbooks in Business & Management bring together the world's leading scholars on the subject to discuss current research and the latest thinking in a range of interrelated topics including Strategy, Organizational Behavior, Public Management, International Business, and many others. Containing completely new essays with extensive referencing to further reading and key ideas, the volumes, in hardback or paperback, serve as both a thorough introduction to a topic and a useful desk reference for scholars and advanced students alike.

EU Lobbying: Empirical and Theoretical studies offers an analysis of large empirical studies of interest group politics and Lobbying in Europe. Recognising the continued European economic integration, globalisation and the changing role of the state, it observs significant adaptations in interest mobilisation and strategic behavour. This book assesses the logic of collective and direct action, the logic of access and influence, the logic of venue-shopping and alliance building. It addresses specific issues such as: the emergence of elite pluralism in EU institutions, the pump priming of political action by EU institutions, and the growing political sophistication of private and public interests in Brussels. Through these issues the book explores how interest groups lobby different European institutions along the policy process and how the nature of policy dictates the style and level of lobbying. This book was previously published as a special issue of Jounal of European Public Policy

EU Lobbying: Empirical and Theoretical studies offers an analysis of large empirical studies of interest group politics and Lobbying in Europe. Recognising the continued European economic integration, globalisation and the changing role of the state, it observs significant adaptations in interest mobilisation and strategic behavour. This book assesses the logic of collective and direct action, the logic of access and influence, the logic of venue-shopping and alliance building. It addresses specific issues such as: the emergence of elite pluralism in EU institutions, the pump priming of political action by EU institutions, and the growing political sophistication of private and public interests in Brussels. Through these issues the book explores how interest groups lobby different European institutions along the policy process and how the nature of policy dictates the style and level of lobbying. This book was previously published as a special issue of Jounal of European Public Policy

It is universally accepted that there has been a huge growth in EU lobbying over the past few decades. There is now a dense EU interest group system. This entirely new volume, inspired by Mazey & Richardson's 1993 book Lobbying in the European Community, seeks to understand the role of interest groups in the policy process from agenda-setting to implementation. Specifically, the book is interested in observing how interest groups organize to influence the EU institutions and how they select different coalitions along the policy process and in different policy domains.
In looking at 20 years of change, the book captures processes of institutional and actor learning, professionalization of lobbying, and the possible emergence of a distinct EU public policy style. More specifically, from the actors' perspective, the editors are interested in assessing how the rise of direct lobbying and the emergence of fluid issue-based coalitions has changed the logic of collective action, and what is the potential impact of 'venue-shopping' on reputation and influence. From an institutional perspective, the contributors explore resource and legitimacy demands, and the practical impact of consultation processes on the emergence of a distinct EU lobbying relationship. It will be essential reading for academics and practitioners alike.

Climate change is one of the most daunting global policy challenges facing the international community in the 21st century. This Element takes stock of the current state of the global climate change regime, illuminating scope for policymaking and mobilizing collective action through networked governance at all scales, from the sub-national to the highest global level of political assembly. It provides an unusually comprehensive snapshot of policymaking within the regime created by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), bolstered by the 2015 Paris Agreement, as well as novel insight into how other formal and informal intergovernmental organizations relate to this regime, including a sophisticated EU policymaking and delivery apparatus, already dedicated to tackling climate change at the regional level. It further locates a highly diverse and numerous non-state actor constituency, from market actors to NGOs to city governors, all of whom have a crucial role to play.

Published in association with UCL's Institute of Global Governance, this new title in Routledge's Critical Concepts in Political Science series is a four-volume collection of the very best scholarship. It is an essential successor to an earlier Routledge collection, Global Governance (4 vols.) (978-0-415-27661-0) (2003), edited by Timothy J. Sinclair. Research in and around global governance has experienced dramatic growth in recent years. Global Governance (2003) was the first comprehensive collection of the field's canonical and cutting-edge research, and this new collection now takes full account of the many important developments that have taken place since its appearance. Global Governance II also includes coverage of areas without the scope of the first collection. In particular, this new Routledge collection showcases (in the words of the editors) 'the second generation of global-governance scholarship which transcends a functionalist regime frame to inquire into the political economy of global governance, and structural constraints exercised by material power, value, and norm conflict'. The editors have also gathered the essential scholarship on the most innovative modes of global governance (such as polycentricity, and networked and experimentalist governance). With a full index, together with a comprehensive introduction, newly written by the editors, which places the collected material in its historical and intellectual context, Global Governance II is an indispensable work of reference.

At a time when Europe and business stand at crossroads, this study provides a perspective into how business representation in the EU has evolved and valuable insights into how to organize lobbying strategies and influence policy-making. Uniquely, the authors analyze business lobbying in Brussels by drawing on insights from political science, public management, and business studies. At the macro level, we explore over 30 years of increasing business lobbying and explore the emergence of a distinct European business-government relations style. At the meso level, we assess how the role of EU institution, policy types, and the policy cycle shape the density and diversity of business lobbying activity. Finally, at the micro level we seek to explore how firms organize their political affairs functions and mobilized strategic political responses. The study uses a variety of methods to analysis the business government relations drawing on unique business and policy-maker surveys; in-depth case studies and elite interviews; large statistical analysis of lobbying registers to assess density and diversity across policy areas and EU institutions; and managerial career path and organizational analysis to assess corporate political capabilities. In contributing to discussions on corporate political strategy and interest groups activity, this monograph should be of interest to public policy scholars, policy-makers, and businesses managers seeking to understand EU government affair and political representation.

Business is one of the major power centres in modern society. The state seeks to check and channel that power so as to serve broader public policy objectives. However, if the way in which business is governed is ineffective or over burdensome, it may become more difficult to achieve desired goals such as economic growth or higher levels of employment. In a period of international economic crisis, the study of how business and government relate to each other in different countries is of more central importance than ever.
These relationships have been studied from a number of different disciplinary perspectives - business studies, economics, economic history, law, and political science - and all of these are represented in this handbook. The first part of the book provides an introduction to the ways in which five different disciplines have approached the study of business and government. The second section, on the firm and the state, looks at how these entities interact in different settings, emphasising such phenomena as the global firm and varieties of capitalism. The third section examines how business interacts with government in different parts of the world, including the United States, the EU, China, Japan and South America. The fourth section reviews changing patterns of market governance through a unifying theme of the role of regulation. Business-government relations can play out in divergent ways in different policy and the fifth section examines the contrasts between different key arenas such as competition policy, trade policy, training policy and environmental policy.
The volume provides an authoritative overview with chapters by leading authorities on the current state of knowledge of business-government relations, but also points to ways in which this work might be developed in the future, e.g., through a political theory of the firm.

Public utilities constitute a large section of Europe' economy, and they have historically been at the centre of national states and their industrial strategies. However, the recent creation of the single market and the liberalisation of European utility sectors have resulted in an expansion of EU/EC economic regulation. This book examines the interaction among the economic and political actors and raises questions regarding the format regulation. The chapters discuss the history of utilities reform, assess the nature of the changes, and address the issues of institutional modification. Four themes emerge from the collection -- the characteristics of Europe-wide reform, the nature of national variance, cross-sectional variations, and the institutional arrangements that can emerge to accommodate the regulatory regime.

This volume reviews current debates on the role of business in politics and it assesses emerging methodological approaches to its study. The book brings together leading scholars to assess various qualitative and quantitative methods, network analysis, historical context and positive rational choice modeling, and detailed research case studies in the study of Business-Government relations. Businesses have developed an increasingly sophisticated appreciation of the policy process, as well as an ability to develop complex strategies to influence it over the last 30 years. This volume reviews current debates on the role of business in politics and it assesses emerging methodological approaches to its study. The book brings together qualitative and quantitative methods, network analysis, historical context and positive rational choice modeling, and detailed research case studies. There is coverage of the environment in which business operates, including state, regional and international institutional frameworks. The internal organizational structure of business interests is considered along with the range of strategies used to influence the policy process. The book explores what policy-makers demand and what business supplies to the policy process. The key role of the firm as a political actor is emphasized, leading to a call for a theoretically informed political economy of the firm. The editors: Dr David Coen, Senior Lecturer in Public Policy, Director of Msc in Public Policy, School of Public Policy, University College London Professor Wyn Grant, Professor of Politics, Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Warwick The contributors: Andreas Broscheid, University of North Carolina - Pembroke David Coen, University College London Wyn Grant, Warwick University Cathie Jo Martin, Boston University Volker Schneider, University of Konstanz, Germany Graham K. Wilson University of Wisconsin - Madison