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Business-Managed Democracy

“Business-managed democracies are those in which the political and cultural arrangements are managed in the interests of business”

Sharon Beder

Business-Managed Government

Business Strategies

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Minutes of Liberalisation of Trade in Services (LOTIS) Committee meetings from 1999 and 2000, leaked to Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO), give an idea of the extensive international networking that the service industry coalitions were part of; the alliance of government officials and corporate executives; and the high level privileged access that members were privy to. The minutes also give an idea of the strategies that were being employed by the more powerful nations to achieve their objectives. They include:

Targeting Services Front Nations Encouraging Offers Touting Benefits Political and Media Access

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The minutes also made it clear there were differences between the US and European business over the strategies to be employed in attaining liberalization of trade in services. US trade barriers posed a particularly delicate problem for European business. The EC was reluctant to push the US on their barriers in case it would ‘undermine the important alliance between the private sector in the EU and the US vis a vis third countries.’ However the LOTIS committee agreed that US barriers should be confronted.

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