Author:

Igor Sulaiman Said Felicio Borck

Abstract:

This article aims to discuss the business lobbying carried out in the Economic Development, Industry, Commerce and Services Committee (CDEICS) of the Chamber of Deputies, from 2007 to 2018. The research question sought to answer the following: how do business entities lobby in the CDEICS? The sources used in the research were the stenographic notes of the CDEICS public hearings, which contain transcripts of the interventions of business representatives invited to the hearings by the committee’s parliamentarians. The political science literature on business and political action indicates the need for such studies to understand the political power of the business sector in a democratic regime (Oliveira, 2003; Mancuso, 2004, 2007). The research hypothesis established that the political organization of entities for lobbying results in efficient collective action by the business sector and that the lobbying carried out by these entities in the CDEICS contributes to a high rate of convergence between the position of business entities and federal legislative production (Mancuso, 2004). Preliminary results from this research indicate that the business sector engages in intense lobbying within the CDEICS (Committee on Economic Development, Industry, Commerce and Services) through its representative class entities: confederations, federations, sectoral associations, and unions, whether from the industrial, financial, or agro-export sectors. It is concluded that business lobbying within the CDEICS can influence parliamentary decision-making regarding bills of interest to the business class that are currently being processed in the Chamber of Deputies.