Politicians’ Extra-Parliamentary Activities and Lobbying

Abstract

The extra-parliamentary activities of politicians have long been a highly controversial and heavily debated issue in the public and political spheres of many countries. This chapter provides an overview of the state of academic research into this potential channel of influence for lobbyists seeking to affect public policy decisions. First, the potential problems of politicians’ extra-parliamentary activities are explained on a theoretical level. Then, empirical studies are presented that have investigated the theoretical relationships using real-world data. In addition, we discuss the possibilities of, and limits to, regulating politicians’ extra-parliamentary activities and income.