CIAO DATE: 01/2011
June 2010
In recent years, the public sector has developed an increasingly close relationship with the private sector. The rise of public-private partnerships, the continued push toward privatisation, the increased role of lobbying, and the reliance on public contracting have all put government in more intimate contact with business. In the case of federal government lobbying, expenses in the United States have more than doubled in the last 10 years. They topped nearly US$ 3.5 billion in 2009, a rise which has helped to push the ranks of lobbyists to more than 13,700. There are even more lobbyists in Brussels, where 15,000 people work for an estimated 2,500 lobbying organisations that attempt to shape policy-making in the European Union.
Resource link: Regulating the Revolving Door [PDF] - 161K