Government, its policies and regulations in the respect are exogenous variables to which multinational enterprises (MNEs) respond and are therefore extraneous to many international business models of multinational enterprise. This chapter deals with the contribution of an historical perspective to the making of global business to our understanding of the relationship between multinationals and governments. It examines the relationship between MNEs and government in the context of European integration that is as a move away from national levels of governance; and considers the highly topical and controversial subject of tax avoidance and tax evasion. Managing political risk has also been a theme of another branch of the business historiography of international business–government relations, that is studies relating to MNEs and developing host economies. Corporate political activities, in the form of lobbying and relationship building with national governments were a core element of the MNEs’ strategies, even if they were not always successful.