Author:

Ana Paula Pedrosa Giglio

Introduction:

Lobbying can be understood as a very important tool to improve and preserve democracy. It is a way in which different groups can to let others know about their interests and provide information to the ones that will make political decisions. Unfortunately, people often use these tools in a way that distorts the moral and democratic views, creating an image of lobbying as a non-legal way of getting favors from authorities and decision-makers. Although Brazil is a country almost as old as the United States, its history is completely different, especially regarding to the political and democratic aspects. There has been a constant change between democratic and authoritarian regimes since its independence and only after 1985 the country moved toward a consolidated democracy. In this process, there is a strong need of developing new forms of improving the political maturity of the Brazilian system. Brazil has still much to improve on politics and even more on the
particular subject of lobbying. Because the United States has more experience studying and understanding the importance of this activity it may serve as model to the development of a Brazilian lobbying legislation. The North American society is (or at least was until a few years ago) able to see the importance of the lobbying activity, unlike most of other countries, and encourage its people to use this tool to pursue their beliefs. It was even included at the constitution, on its first amendment which states: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the  ight of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances ”. When individuals or groups lobby in the United States, they are exercising their basic right that was granted by the American Constitution. After some cases of the misuse of lobbying, its image inside the American society seems to have changed into a prejudicial attitude, most similar to the one adopted in the international context. This change in attitude may cause some modifications in the way lobbying is seen, and most of all in the way it is regulated. President Barak Obama, while still in his campaign for office, often  used the lobbying activity as an example of the things he would like to change once elected. The tradition of freedom and the pursuit of the best way to live have made the lobbying activity in the United States a unique experience. The main focus of this paper is to study its model in order to understand it better. The way it is being used and specially the regulations the country developed in order to attempt to make the activity as noble as it can be, are relevant lessons that must be be carefully analyzed. In these areas, also, the study of North American trajectory is very rich because the United States has the longest history of lobbying regulation of all modern states with provisions dating back to 1935. This paper was developed particularly with the purpose of analyzing the mistakes and successes of the American experience. For such, it was divided into four parts, which not only focuses on achieving a better understanding about the North American experience, but also on trying to learn about their process in order to develop a Brazilian way to deal with the subject. The first part the paper is dedicated to understand what is the lobbying, who are the main parts involved and how they perform in order to develop their activity. This is a more conceptual part, not focusing especially on the American
experience, but mainly on the international way of seeing the lobbying activity, although some examples of the American regulation are already being used. The second part is more related to the American experience. Starting with some ideas about how lobbying had been developed in the United States and the current legislation and its ideas: the registration of the lobbyists, the disclosure reports, the “revolving doors” policy, among many other very distinguished concepts. At the end of this second part, there is a small analysis of the current situation, such as the problems detected and the difficulties to implement modifications. The third part of this paper is dedicated to the examination some of the American statistics that were obtained by combining the results, in the last ten years, of the disclosure reports. The changes (or the absence of them), the number of registered lobbyists, the amounts invested in the activity, the companies that invest more in lobbying are shown. It is a valuable source of information about how lobbying is developing in the North American political scenario, especially when strict regulations took effect. There will also be an analysis of some interesting cases related to lobbying activity. These cases are reported in order to illustrate that even the most regulated society can have problems, and it also tries to provide a general idea about how it is seen and
performed. Finally, in the fourth and last part, there are some conclusions about the importance of examining the American experience and the lessons that can be learned to best develop a Brazilian model. The differences and the similarities, as well as some proposals to better way with the lobbying activity will be presented. Despite of the suggestions, it is necessary to keep in mind that every country has its own reality and every experience should be unique in order to reach the best possible results to every different society.