Multinational corporations

Researching Corporations, Front Groups, and Corporate Influence on Government

These links can help you research the influence of business (aka big business, corporations, big corporations) on government, the media, and other areas of life. This information is often difficult to find as this kind of influence tends to be exerted through a wide variety of means such as campaign donations, pseudo-grassroots organizations, PR and advertising campaigns, lobbying, professional organizations, research funding (or obstruction thereof), and more.

While every effort has been made to link to sites that present accurate information, it's important to view everything you find with a grain of salt. Interaction between a corporate representative and a government official doesn't necessarily mean explicit corruption. Political scientists and other academics have debated the extent, forms, and impact of corporate influence for decades. These complex issues deserve careful consideration from the people most interested in building a more just world - activists, researchers, and other radicals. Activists and independent journalists can always post their questions on the main page to get further assistance with making the most of these resources.

For now, this guide will focus most of its efforts on US politics - but that can change if you contribute international resources (domestic ones are, of course, also welcome)!

Categories include: For Starters, Lobbying, Interest Groups, Front Groups, Funding/Tax Info, 527s, "Revolving Door", Think Tanks, Wikileaks Cables, US Government Records, Government Contracts, and Money in Medicine & Science

For Starters
Recent LA Times story regarding the failure of many corporations to fully disclose political spending

ANSWER: Essar Group

answer: 

This could actually be a very huge project - to research the history of this company, the people involved in it, and the reactions of countries and localities where it has set up operations. For a quick start, or introduction, there are a number of web searches you might find useful.

In Google, "Essar Steel" opposition site:gov.in gets 5 hits; "Essar group" site:gov.in gets 57. "Essar Steel" site:ac.in (86 hits) or "Essar group" site:ac.in (94 hits), get many sites to do with university affiliations, or people who are involved with the company. US government searches "Essar group" site:gov (4 hits) and especially "Essar steel" site:gov (82 hits) may be useful, because they report incidents such as Iron Ore in May 2007 Essar Steel Holdings Limited’s iron ore beneficiation plant ....attacked National Mineral Development Corporation’s rail line ... , which reports: "In India, Maoist rebels targeted railway property and mine infrastructure. The rebels damaged the water pumping station at Essar Steel Holdings Limited’s iron ore beneficiation plant and attacked National Mineral Development Corporation’s rail line from the Bailadila mines—both in Chhattisgarh State."

You can try many individual countries in a Google search, for example: "Essar steel" project site:cn (26 hits), "Essar steel" environmental site:ca (29 hits), "Essar group" site:za (17 hits), "Essar group" rebels site:uk (40 hits), etc.

The Edgar database gets 10 hits for the search: essar in the company name, and might well help you find U.S. subsidiaries or people involved with Essar.
In Edgar full-text search, click "Advanced search" and get 14 hits for the "company name" search: essar

Related Question
Syndicate content