Europe Inc.: Regional & Global Restructuring and the Rise of Corporate Power

Europe Inc. provides the first real insight into the systematic ways in which transnational corporations - working through lobby groups - have succeeded in influencing a wide range of policies of the EU and other international institutions, such as the OECD, WTO and the United Nations. The authors cover the major players in these anti-democratic practices and analyze the structural and political factors which have enabled corporate political power to dominate.

In their analysis of the EU's current neoliberal economic strategies -which involve promoting deregulation and privatization in virtually all areas and subordinating every policy field to the objective of international competitiveness - the authors focus on the activities of corporate lobby groups and corporate state alliances. These include bodies such as the European Roundtable of Industrialists (ERT), the Transatlantic Business Dialogue (TABD), the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), and the Association for Monetary Union of Europe (AMUE). The featured case studies examine corporate influence on transport, biotechnology, climate change policies, as well as key economic globalization projects such as the Transatlantic Economic Partnership and the Multilateral Agreement on Investment.

Belen Balanya works with the Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) in Amsterdam. CEO is a research and campaign group targeting the threats to democracy, equity, social justice and the environment posed by the economic and political power of corporations and their lobby groups.Ann Doherty works with Oliver Hoedeman works with the Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) in Amsterdam. CEO is a research and campaign group targeting the threats to democracy, equity, social justice and the environment posed by the economic and political power of corporations and their lobby groups.Adam Ma'anit works with the Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) in Amsterdam. CEO is a research and campaign group targeting the threats to democracy, equity, social justice and the environment posed by the economic and political power of corporations and their lobby groups.Erik Wesselius works with the Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) in Amsterdam. CEO is a research and campaign group targeting the threats to democracy, equity, social justice and the environment posed by the economic and political power of corporations and their lobby groups.