How U.S. Companies Secure Their Interests: Corporate Influence in Foreign Policy

• In Event: Poster Session: Representation and Electoral Systems and Poster Session: Political Organizations and Parties
  In Poster Session: Poster Session: Political Organizations and Parties

Abstract

Recent studies of corporate lobbying utilize longitudinal data to understand how U.S. businesses seek to influence government decision-making (Drutman 2015). This paper extends this line of research by focusing on U.S. companies who engage in foreign policy lobbying to protect and maintain their interests in the Middle East. Due to the recent and continuous wave of revolutionary change in the region, U.S. foreign policy can affect who wins and who loses among business interests. Through content analysis of lobbying disclosure reports, this paper examines U.S. corporate lobby ing related to seventeen countries within the Middle East (e.g. Turkey, Iran, Israel, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates) from 2008-2016. I explain how much these organizations lobby as a function of threats of instability in the Middle East, their assets in particular countries, and government attention to foreign policy.

Author

• DeAnne Hurtado, The University of Texas at Arlington