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Free keywords:
lobbying; public services; telecommunications; World Trade Organization; European Union
Abstract:
Observers generally assume that firms which engage in lobbying know what they
want. Business–government relations and especially the corporate political
activities of network operators during the basic telecommunication negotiations
of the World Trade Organization present a slightly different picture. European
monopoly providers benefited from the old international regime and initially
ignored trade discussions in their sector. In the course of negotiations, however,
they became part of a three-level game, which obliged them to consider national,
European, and multilateral objectives simultaneously. In the course of these
complex negotiations, their preferences evolved. Because governments advanced
independently on the liberalization project, companies adapted their policy
stances from reluctance to support for the negotiations. This article thus cautions
against treatments of lobbying that consider preferences as exogenously given.
