Meta-Strategic Lobbying: The 1998 Steel Imports Case
Abstract
In 1998, the domestic steel industry in the United States devised and executed a complex and
sophisticated effort to achieve an effective non-market response to a sudden, persistent, and
damaging surge of imported steel. This campaign lasted until 2002, when President George W.
Bush invoked Section 201 of the U.S. trade laws to impose tariffs on imports of most steel
products. This case of the steel industry’s trade policy campaign provides an opportunity to
examine selected models of protection-seeking industries and lobbying to ask why and how the
steel coalition achieved this extraordinary governmental response. These questions are explored
though a descriptive case of the steel industry’s protection-seeking campaign followed by a
comparative examination of previous models of protection-seeking firms, and lobbying to achieve
protectionist policies. A comparison with selected models of the determinants of protectionseeking
and factors affecting lobbying strategies show that most, almost all, were present in the
steel case. In fact, a meta-strategic approach that transcends the customary understanding of
lobbying is suggested in a complex policy environment. Such an environment can be characterized
by: the need to influence multiple governmental entities – legislative, regulatory, executive; the
desire for multiple outcomes with varying levels of specificity – laws or resolutions,
administrative rulings, policy choices; interactions between different levels and branches of
government; employment of coordinated interrelated lobbying techniques; and simultaneity of
these factors.
Description
The article of record as published may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.2202/1469-3569.1094
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.Collections
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
The sources of protracted conflict in the Western Sahara
Labac, Kai Lee (Monterey, California: Naval Postgraduate School, 2016-03);Since the ceasefire of 1991, Morocco and the POLISARIO Front have maintained a stalemate in the Western Sahara conflict. This obscure war, which recently surpassed forty years of hostilities, is at the center of a complex ... -
Where we stand: a study of integration in the U.S. Armed Forces.
Prum, Bruce E. (Monterey, California ; Naval Postgraduate School, 1964);The purpose of this Master of Business Administration (MBA) project is to develop a practical marketing plan to attract U.S. Navy Unrestricted Line (URL) officers to the resident Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) Defense-Focused ... -
Marketing plan for the Naval Postgraduate School Master of Business Administration to the Navy unrestricted line community
Lertangtam, Issares; Trevino, Luis R.; Viera, Nick (Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School, 2004-06);The purpose of this Master of Business Administration (MBA) project is to develop a practical marketing plan to attract U.S. Navy Unrestricted Line (URL) officers to the resident Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) Defense-Focused ...