Since the unrest in the Middle East began a month ago the Sunlight Foundation has shone a unique spotlight on the lobbying efforts by the governments now facing massive protests and upheaval. Check out this post for an overview of the lobbying contracts from some of the Arab world and below for in-depth coverage on specific countries:

Algeria

• February 18, 2011: Libya and Algeria rocked by recent protests, have history of US lobbying

Egypt

• February 16, 2011: Egypt’s Lobbyists Worked To Block Pro-Human Rights, Democracy Resolution



• February 15, 2011: Egypt’s Washington Lobbying Operation Continues
• February 7, 2011: Egypt’s Corruption Problem
• January 31, 2011: Lobbying Contacts By Egypt’s Washington Lobbyists
• January 28, 2011: Egypt and US Lobbying History
• January 28, 2011: Egypt’s Washington lobby helped country’s military and U.S. defense firms

Libya

• February 23, 2011: U.S. Companies Lobbied To Keep Libyan Market Open For Business
• February 18, 2011: Libya and Algeria rocked by recent protests, have history of US lobbying

Curious about other countries? The Sunlight Foundation and ProPublica created the Foreign Lobbying Influence Tracker to enable research of the lobbying records by other countries. This searchable database is a collection of filings under the Foreign Agent Registration Act that is maintained by the Justice Department. Since mid-2007, the pdf images of these documents are available online and the Foreign Lobbyist Influence Tracker is the strongest resource available that digitizes these important records.