Corporate lobbying

Corporate lobbying is baptized corruption.

The Webster’s dictionary defines “lobby” to mean “a group of persons who conduct a campaign to influence members of a legislature to vote according to the group’s special interest”. Going by the definition, lobbying is probably as old as democracy itself. Today you may find a “Lobbyist” in any organizational set up. Lobbying of late been woven into the democratic process. A human rights activist who meets legislators and ministers to press for ratification of an international convention may also be a lobbyist. The tenuous balance between legitimate and illegitimate lobbying activities is endangered when business houses with enormous funds back up close relationships with lawmakers and gain unauthorized access to the policy-making process, otherwise unavailable to “the common man”.

Conventional wisdom suggests that lobbying is the preferred means for exerting political influence in developed countries and corruption the preferred one in developing countries. However, lobbying and corruption are symbiotic in nature as both are ways of obtaining help from the public sector in exchange for favors.