In a period of international economic crisis, the study of how business and government relate to each other is of more central importance than ever. These relationships have been studied from various disciplinary perspectives - business studies, economics, economic history, law, and political science - all of which are represented in this handbook.
Professor David Coen is Professor of Public Policy at University College London. Prior to joining UCL he held appointments at the London Business School and Max Planck Institute in Cologne and was awarded a PhD at the European University Institute, Florence. In recent years he has been a Fulbright distinguished scholar at the Centre for European Studies, Harvard University and visiting fellow at Max Planck Institute, Cologne. His research is recently embedded in the development of models and processes of EU public policy and business government relations. Recent books include Refining Regulatory Regimes: Utilities in Europe (Edward Elgar, 2005) with Adrienne Hertier; EU Lobbying: Theoretical and Empirical Developments (Routledge, 2007); and Lobbying the European Union: Institutions, Actors and Processes (OUP, 2009) edited with Jeremy Richardson.
Professor Wyn Grant is Professor of Politics at the University of Warwick. He has written on government-business relations since the 1970s, including a path-breaking study of the CBI with David Marsh (1977) and a well-regarded book on Business and Politics in Britain. (1987, 2nd edition 1993). He has also written extensively on trade policy, agricultural policy, economic policy and environmental policy. He is a member of the executive committee of the International Political Science Association and was formerly chair of the UK Political Studies Association. His more recent research has been based on interdisciplinary cooperation with biological scientists in projects on biological alternatives to chemical pesticides and the management of cattle diseases.
Professor Graham Wilson is Professor of Political Science at Boston University and is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he taught for twenty-five years. He was educated in the UK and began his career at the University of Essex. He has studied business and politics for the last thirty years and is the author of Business and Politics: A Comparative Introduction which has appeared in three editions. He has edited Governance and The British Journal of Political Science.