In an age of sleaze, scandal and corruption associated with financial crisis and economic downturn across the globe, citizens want more transparency and accountability in politics. This pioneering book, available for the first time in paperback, examines a principal means by which this can be achieved: the regulation of lobbyists. -- .
Life After Privatization offers a refreshing and original theoretical conceptualization of what happened to stateowned enterprises after they were privatized from the late 1970s onwards. Some privatized firms have become today's European and global giants, 'Alphas', merging with or acquiring other firms, whereas other firms, 'Betas', have been taken over by Alphas or other sectoral leaders. The book raises questions such as which privatized firms in the airline, automobile, and the electricity sectors in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain are Alphas and Betas today? And why? Building on a variety of themes from both Political Science and Business Studies, it considers a comprehensive set of explanations both internal and external to the firm, to analyse why a firm may become an Alpha or a Beta. The evidence shows that while internal factors are important, the more external, political, factors are necessary and sufficient to explain why a firm becomes an Alpha or a Beta. This includes the impact of liberalization, the roles of states, and the actions of regulators that are lobbied by firms. Based on exhaustive evidence, Life After Privatization concludes with a novel inductive theory, which offers a significant step forward for social science scholars' and practitioners' understanding of the 'politics' businesses face in global markets.
An exhaustive update of the 2010 classic that analyzes more countries, revamping the theoretical classification of lobbying regulatory environments and the states found therein. Two key innovations in this edition include: new insights on measuring transparency and accountability of the laws and an easy guide to make or amend a law. -- .