Individual firms have become the dominant lobby actors in the European Union, while associational business interest representation has declined. This is alarming because individual firms tend to overlook the long-term interests of society by focusing on what is important in the short term for their own survival. How can we explain this trend? This article argues that globalization is a key driver of firm-level lobbying and that it fractures business interest representation. The study employs an original dataset of almost 14,000 lobby contacts between senior staff of the European Commission, business interests, and NGOs. It finds support for the argument that globalization spurs individual firm lobbying in the European Union. This complicates the already challenging task of business associations aggregating and channeling the interests of their members.

中文翻译：

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经济全球化与欧盟商业利益代表的分裂

个体公司已成为欧盟的主要游说者，而协会商业利益的代表性则有所下降。这是令人担忧的，因为个别企业往往只关注短期内对自身生存重要的事情，而忽视社会的长期利益。我们如何解释这一趋势？本文认为全球化是公司层面游说的关键驱动力，它破坏了商业利益的代表。该研究采用了欧盟委员会高级职员、商业利益集团和非政府组织之间近 14,000 名游说人士接触的原始数据集。它支持了这样的论点：全球化刺激了个别公司在欧盟的游说。