Ethics in corporate political action: can lobbying be just?

This article takes issue with the potential injustice of political systems in which the possibility of voicing specific interests depends on the availability of financial resources. Previous empirical analysis suggests that the interests of private companies, alone or grouped into associations, are more strongly represented than other interests, such as those of NGOs and unions. Even if ethical analysis of corporate political action is growing, previous studies mainly address this general issue without a specific focus on lobbying activities. This study specifically aims at contributing to the analysis of the ethics of lobbying activities. In particular, we propose the use of justice as a criterion for ethically assessing lobbying activities. To this aim, we provide some definitions of lobbying activity, with particular reference to the contexts of Europe and the USA. Then, we introduce the problem of the legitimacy of lobbying activities, particularly in relation to the opportunities that stakeholders have for influencing political processes. Moreover, we analyze different notions of justice, in order to build a conceptual framework to be used in ethically assessing lobbying activities. Finally, we present four case studies of lobbying to be analyzed through the framework previously developed.