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introduction
In national jurisdictions like the United States, laws governing lobbying activity
are well developed and subject to robust analysis and critique.
Internationally, however, the regulatory environment for lobbying activity is
highly idiosyncratic and undertheorized. In fact, legal rules that govern lobbying
activityat the international level have not yet been recognized as a body of
lobbying law.Rather, the patchwork of legal regimes is cast as a variety of
“consultation” rules that allow individuals and groups to “democratize”
international institutions by offering to lawmakers and policymakers the diverse
perspectives of a global polity.4 This input is said to be a “basic form of popular
representation in the present-day world” and “a guarantee of . . . political
legitimacy.”5 I call this conventional account “strong legitimacy optimism.”