Lobbying from the Outside: Foreign Agents, Lobbyists, and Foreign Advocacy in the USA

Abstract In 1938, Congress enacted the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) as a tool to identify and potentially combat Nazi propaganda. In the 1960s, FARA was amended to shift its focus from capturing propaganda to documenting the advocacy relationship between foreign principals (e.g., governments, political parties, and corporations) and the US government. Today, foreign agents—those hired by foreign principals to represent their interests—are required to register with the Department of Justice unless they meet one of the eight statutory exemptions, including one that allows for the registration under the Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA), a 1995 law that requires lobbyists to register with Congress. This paper provides background on FARA, LDA, and how they interact. Using data from both laws, three logit regression models test the importance of American foreign assistances and international alliance connections on a countries decision to hire an advocate in the USA. The analysis demonstrates that countries that receive have more international alliance connections with the USA are more likely to hire a foreign agent, lobbyist, or both. Those that receive more foreign assistance are more likely to hire a lobbyist or a lobbyist and a foreign agent.