Foster Business Library


Politics & Business



Foster Business Library research guides are aimed at University of Washington students, faculty, and staff, highlighting resources available to them; users not currently affiliated with the university may be unable to access some of these resources.
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Foster Business Library Databases:

    The Foster Business Library offers an extensive collection of over fifty databases on its homepage; see under Databases. For a complete list of Foster databases, see the List of All Business Databases. Access to these databases from off campus requires that you first go to the Off-Campus Access button, in the upper right of all library webpages. These resources may not be accessed from off campus except by those with a valid UW Net ID and password. For more information on Foster business databases, click Databases, A-Z. For information on which Foster business databases to use, see the Database Index. For information on accessing Foster databases from off campus, see Database Access. For guidelines on responsible database usage, see Database Usage.

  • EconLit:   Included in the folder Articles--Citations & Abstracts and alphabetically under Business Databases on the Foster Business Library homepage. Produced by the American Economic Association, EconLit is the fundamental research tool in economics. The database provides bibliographic citations, with selected abstracts, to the international literature on economics since 1969. Econ Lit corresponds to the Journal of Economic Literature and the Index of Economic Articles, covering journal articles, books, and dissertations, as well as articles in collective works, such as conference proceedings and collected essay volumes.

    A search for Business and Politics retrieved over 350 references.

  • EIU Online:   One of the world's top sources for country intelligence, the EIU (Economist Intelligence Unit) employs 500 analysts who research almost 200 nations. The Foster Business Library provides access to their Country Profiles, Country Reports, Country Commerce, and Country Finance in print editions and this database provides online access to these publications, often in both HTML and PDF formats.

    A search for Business and Politics, in Viewswire, retrieved a list of more than 15,000 articles.

  • Hoovers Online:   Under Business Databases on the Foster Business Library homepage. Hoovers Online offers information about 14,000 public and private companies worldwide, with links to company homepages and annual reports, charts, company capsule, competitors, divisions, earnings, financials, Fortune and Forbes rankings, history, industry information, insider trading, mission statements, news links, press releases, officers, patents, products, SEC filings, splits, subsidiaries, etc.

    This database provides company fact sheets and overviews of many firms active in politics including Parsons Corporation, Halliburton Company, Bechtel Group, Fluor Corporation, the Louis Berger Group, Perini Corporation, Washington Group International, and the Raytheon Company, among others.

  • JSTOR:   This database may be found under Electronic Journals, which may be found by going to Reference Tools in the left menu, under Find It. JSTOR is a subject searchable index of 360 journals, with full-text backfiles of scholarly journals, some of which date back to the 1800's. Among the collections of scholarly journals on this site are ones for Business and for Economics, encompassing 72 journals.

    A basic search, in Business and Economics journals, for Business and Politics, in abstracts, produced just three articles; in full text, over ninety articles.

  • Social Sciences Citation Index:   Included in the folder Articles--Citations & Abstracts under Business Databases on the Foster Business Library homepage. This database "is a multidisciplinary index, with searchable author abstracts, covering the journal literature of the social sciences. It indexes more than 1,725 journals spanning 50 disciplines, as well as covering individually selected, relevant items from over 3,300 of the world's leading scientific and technical journals. It "provides access to current information and retrospective data from 1956 forward."

    A general search for Business and Politics retrieved over 950 documents.

Web Resources:

    Unlike library databases, Web resources are available wherever you have web access; they do not require that you access them via the Off-Campus Access button, in the upper right of all library webpages. When using web resources, be sure to evaluate the credibility of these resources. For a subject index to web resources, see Business Resources on the Web on the Foster Business Library homepage.

  • American Enterprise Institute:  "Founded in 1943 and located in Washington, D.C., AEI is one of America's largest and most respected 'think tanks.' AEI research covers economics and trade; social welfare; government tax, spending, regulatory, and legal policies; U.S. politics; international affairs; and U.S. defense and foreign policies. The Institute publishes dozens of books and hundreds of articles and reports each year." See their Regulation.

  • BIPAC:  BIPAC is a political action committee, founded in 1963, that works to express the voice of the business community in American politics, contributing money to pro-business candidates and coordinating business contributions to the political process and voting for their candidates by employees of their companies. "For every $1.00 BIPAC gives to a candidate, at least $92.00 has been tracked to follow from the business community." See their Business Agenda, Supported Candidates (two Democrats and nine Republicans), and their publication Elections Insight. They also rate members of Congress on their support of BIPAC positions; for instance, see current members Voting Records on a range of business-related issues.

  • Brookings Institution:  This site provides research on a wide variety of topics, including business—and where business and politics often coincide, Regulation. See also their Campaign Finance Reform.

  • Business Week--Campaign 2004:   This magazine provides special coverage of the election campaign of 2004, from the viewpoint of its impact on business. See their Talking Business with John Kerry

  • BuyBlue.Org:   This Democratic-leaning organization attempts to educate the American public about making purchasing decisions based on businesses that support the Democratic party. This website, using data from the Center for Responsive Politics and the Federal Election Commission, provides listings of companies that support the Republican and Democratic parties (and, in some cases, just one party). See their listing of Company Rankings By Donation.

  • The Campaign Finance Institute:   "The Campaign Finance Institute is a non-partisan, non-profit institute, affiliated with The George Washington University, that conducts objective research and education, empanels task forces and makes recommendations for policy change in the field of campaign finance." See their CFI Research and Campaign Finance Reform Resources .

  • The Campaign Legal Center:   "The Campaign Legal Center is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization which works in the areas of campaign finance and elections, political communication and government ethics." See their Court Cases of Interest, Press Articles of Interest, and IRS Proceedings.

  • Center for Investigative Reporting:   This center describes itself as " a nonprofit organization that reveals injustice and strengthens democracy through the tools of journalism." See their Money and Politics reporting (since a lot of the money is from corporations and industries).

  • Center for Political Accountability:   This center describes itself as "a non-profit, non-partisan organization that was created in the fall of 2003 to bring transparency and accountability to corporate political giving. It addresses a serious problem: the fact that shareholders are largely uninformed about corporate soft money political contributions." See their Library on this topic.

  • Center for Responsive Politics:   "The Center for Responsive Politics is a non-partisan, non-profit research group based in Washington, D.C. that tracks money in politics, and its effect on elections and public policy. The Center conducts computer-based research on campaign finance issues for the news media, academics, activists, and the public at large." See their Election Overview, Top Overall Donors (by company or organization), top Contributors to 527 Committees, Industry Breakdown, and Sector Breakdown. See also their Campaign Finance Links.

  • Common Cause Soft Money Laundromat:   "Common Cause Common Cause was founded in 1970, with more than 200,000 members and supporters nationwide. Financed by the dues and contributions of its individual members, Common Cause does not accept foundation or government grants or solicit contributions from labor unions or corporations." Their Soft Money Laudromat is "a searchable database of special interest soft money contributions to the Democratic and Republican national party committees." This database enables searches by industry as well as by city and state, with separate columns by party. Search results disclose company affiliation. See also their Campaign Finance Studies.

  • Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington:   This organization "uses high-impact legal actions to target government officials who sacrifice the common good to special interests." Many of their investigations revolve around the nexus of business and politics. See their News Releases.

  • Institute on Money in State Politics:   "The Institute on Money in State Politics is a national nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to accurate, comprehensive and unbiased documentation and research on campaign finance at the state level. The Institute develops searchable databases, makes them available to the public online, and analyzes the information to determine the role campaign money plays in public policy debates in the states." The institute tracks campaign funding from business and business-related groups; for instance, see their The Politics of Business: Chamber Groups Support GOP (five pages in PDF format). See also their Tools and Resources for links to similar organizations.

  • LegiStorm:   "LegiStorm launched in September 2006. LegiStorm is a company dedicated to transparency in government. We gather information about the U.S. Congress and make it available to the public. As a non-partisan group, we exist to exhibit the facts and disseminate public information about our nation's elected officials and their staff." See their information on Salaries, Trips (see the list of Most Active Sponsors, and the Score (latest happenings on the House and Senate floors, and more).

  • Mother Jones 400 Homepage:   Mother Jones magazine's website maintains a list of the top 400 contributors to political candidates, with links to lists by industry. See the list of the Top 400, ranked by total contribution, with company connections, industry, and total contributed amount and to which party (or parties).

  • National Bureau of Economic Research:  "Founded in 1920, the National Bureau of Economic Research is a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization dedicated to promoting a greater understanding of how the economy works." A search of this site for Business and Politics retrieved over 15 references.

  • PoliticalMoneyLine:   This nonpartisan firm maintains a database of over 30,000 lobbyists, lobbying firms, associations, corporations, and others who are regulated by the Lobbying Disclosure Act. Among the many categories of information available at this site are Hard Dollar Contributions Made By Industry Groupings and contributions made by the political action committee of General Motors. There is also a donor guide by State, including Washington state. Some database searches are limited to paid subscribers to the site.

  • Project Vote Smart:   This non-profit organization is another good source for information on donors to politicians as well as to the rating that politicians receive from over 150 different interest groups.

  • Public Campaign:   "Public Campaign is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to sweeping reform that aims to dramatically reduce the role of big special interest money in American politics." See their Research and Investigative Reporting, Fact Sheets and Useful Links.

  • The Seattle Times Money Watch:   This special election section provides access to Washington state donors to the presidential campaigns and all donations to the year's state races for governor, U.S. Senate, attorney general, and the 8th Congressional District. The data is current within a few days and is compiled by reports campaigns must file with state or federal regulators. You can search by campaign, contributor, ZIP code or employer. Campaign contribution data is provided by Washington State Public Disclosure Commission and the National Institute of Computer-Assisted Reporting. For many donors, corporate affiliation is included.

  • U.S. Chamber of Commerce:   This business organization represents "more than 3 million businesses, nearly 3,000 state and local chambers, 830 associations, and over 90 American Chambers of Commerce abroad" in Washington, D.C, lobbying government and elected officials on a wide variety of Business Issues and Legislation.

  • U.S. Federal Election Commission:   "In 1975, Congress created the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to administer and enforce the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) - the statute that governs the financing of federal elections. The duties of the FEC, which is an independent regulatory agency, are to disclose campaign finance information, to enforce the provisions of the law such as the limits and prohibitions on contributions, and to oversee the public funding of Presidential elections." See their Campaign Finance Reports and Data and Campaign Finance Law Resources.

  • USAspending.gov:   This U.S. government website "provides citizens with easy access to government contract, grant and other award data." See their Contracts site to search contracts by state, by district, by contractor, by agency, and more; see also, as an example, Top 100 Recipients of Federal Contract Awards for FY 2008 1Q.

  • Yahoo! News:  See their Campaign Finance, under United States News.
Foster Business Library Reference Collection:

    The Foster Business Library Reference Collection consists of business handbooks, encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other quick reference tools. It is located behind the Reference Desk in Foster, arranged by call number. Reference materials cannot be checked out; they may only be used in the library.

  • National directory of corporate public affairs.
    This book identifies key corporate public and/or governmental affairs and philanthropic officers and operations for 1,800 U.S. companies. For major companies, this directory provides information on corporate giving to political parties and to politicians, by party and by candidate. Also provided is information on corporate grant giving.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HD59 .N24 2005.

  • The IMD world competitiveness yearbook.
    This yearbook, published annually by the International Institute for Management Development in Switzerland, provides ranking information, in many competitiveness categories, for 46 major countries. Among the many categories are international trade, employment, prices, business legislation, labor markets, management practices, impact of globalization, and corruption.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF1414 .W67 2007.

  • Global corruption report.
    This annual publication, published by Transparency International, usually focuses, each year, on a theme, such as corruption and health in the 2006 issue, with reports on this issue in many countries in part one. Part two consists of country reports from nations with corruption problems, with over forty countries included in the 2006 issue (including the U.S.).
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: JF1081 .G56 2001, 2003-2006.

    See the Special Focus: Political Corruption volume, published in 2004, and chapter four, on corporate money, on pages 59 to 75.

Foster Business Library Books:

Foster Business Library Articles:

Help:
13 August 2004; updated 22 April 2008.   Peter Stevens, Business Librarian, stevens@u.washington.edu