United States Human Rights Policy: The Corporate Lobby
Human Rights Quarterly 41 (2019) 115–142
Posted: 14 Aug 2019
Date Written: 2019
Abstract
Interest groups take an active stance on US human rights policy, with implications for countries around the world. Today, publicly traded companies are responsible for the majority of all lobbying dollars spent on the issue. This article leverages a unique dataset on congressional lobbying between 2007 and 2010 to map and explain variation in corporate lobbying on US human rights-related legislation. We substantiate and explain why large oil, defense, and technology companies have greater representation in terms of dollars spent trying to influence the US approach to managing human rights around the globe than any other lobbying group. Rarely do these companies publicly explain their interests or intentions when lobbying a policy. Moreover, congressional efforts to link human rights to other areas of legislation (such as trade) has incentivized certain firms — some likely without any direct interests in human rights — to weigh in on the human rights policymaking process. Whether this is good or bad news for the promotion of human rights around the world is an open — and pressing — question.
Keywords: Human Rights, Corporate Lobbying
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