ASSIGNMENT

Assignment



Assignment~

Introduction

Using the Transatlantic Business Dialogue (TABD), the phenomenon of government-business dialogues is examined. TABD, a corporate coalition, advises the E.U. and U.S. governments regarding business regulation and global trade. Because of increasing economic and political disputes between the European Union and United States, TABD faces a dual rhetorical challenge: promoting its success to business and government participants to further the process while encountering a small but growing activist community protesting TABD's Influence as an example of corporate hegemony.

Continued protest may bring unwelcome attention to TABD, threatening its legitimacy with the larger public. TABD employs the language of the two-way symmetrical model of public relations as a means of issue management. TABD strategically exploits the multifarious meanings of dialogue to promote and legitimize a hegemonic role in establishing transatlantic business regulations and trade policy. Critical examination reveals how TABD excludes multiple viewpoints from public dialogue about trade and business policies.

Discussion and Analysis

Among the growing number of global trade institutions and agreements including the World Trade Organization (WTO), the North American Free Trade Agreement, and the World Bank, the Transatlantic Business Dialogue (TABD) works in relative obscurity outside the business community. Although lower in profile, this organization wields significant influence. Then-U.S. Commerce Secretary Ron Brown and European Trade Commissioner Leon Brittan created the TABD in 1995 as a government advisory group as a part of the New Transatlantic Agenda (NTA).1 The TABD Web site describes itself in "About the TABD" as follows:

The [TABD] offers a practical framework for enhanced cooperation between the transatlantic business community and the governments of the European Union and the United States. It is an informal process, launched in 1995, that brings together European and American companies and business associations to develop joint EU-U.S. policy recommendations. The recommendations are discussed directly with the European Commission, the U.S. Administration, the U.S. Congress and the European Parliament throughout the year.

The E.U. and U.S. governments explicitly invite corporate participation in policy formation.2 Green Cowles (2001b) argues, "The relationship between the US and EU governments, the regulatory bodies, and the TABD represents a novel form of governance in and of itself" (p. 216). Thus, it arguably represents a meaningful shift in government-corporations relations in the global era. According to Richter (2001), these transnational corporate-government partnerships and "so-called dialogues have emerged as one of the most sophisticated issues management strategies" (p. 159). The TABD is a particularly important example; in the words of one commerce department official, "Their [the TABD] agenda is the world's agenda".

For global businesses and E.U./U.S. governments, TABD has been an important element in transatlantic relations, whose tasks have become all the more urgent in the face of political and economic conflicts between the European Union and the United States. The organization is seen by many as a forum to rebuild the trade and diplomatic relations necessary to resolve publicized trade disputes, including the issue of U.S. steel tariffs, E.U. restrictions on genetically modified foods, and farm subsidies. Political rifts caused by the 2003 United States-led war in ...