Capitalism, Institutions, and Power in the Study of Business

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pepper D. Culpepper
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Institutional Context ◽  
Political Conflict ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Preference Formation ◽  
Power Resources ◽  
Democratic Capitalism

This chapter explores the contributions of historical institutionalist scholarship to understanding preference formation in business. It critiques the analytical drift of the literature away from some conceptual sites of essential political action in democratic capitalism: issues of power, common trends across capitalist countries, and the role of voters in structuring the character of political conflict among interest groups and political parties. The chapter proposes a governance space, defined by the two dimensions of political salience and institutional formality, as a way to combine insights about the importance of institutional context with the structurally uneven allocation of power resources in capitalism.

scholarly journals Have You Ever Seen the Void? Interest Groups Concerns Toward the Weakening Representational Role of Political Parties in European Countries

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 15
Author(s):  
Chiara Fiorelli
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Party System ◽  
Political Conflict ◽  
Economic Interests ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Policy Choices ◽  
Democratic Life

Contemporary democracies face a trend toward the diffusion of the representational void left by under- legitimized political parties (Mair 2013). The essential functions of traditional political parties to organize and articulate political conflict and societal interests have been challenged both from the inside of the party system, by the emergence of populist habits of newcomers, and from the outside, by the progressive erosion of old political culture and corresponding increasing of hostility feeling. Intermediaries organizations of political and economic interests usually push their demands toward political actors in order to shape policy choices. What can happen when the traditional party system suffers from de- legitimation? In this paper, I will try to understand the level of concern of interest organizations toward the progressive detachment of civil society from political actors, in order to define if the risk of a void of representation is perceived as real and contingent. Thanks to a new original European dataset (the Comparative Interest Groups Survey), the analysis shows that different types of interest groups perceive the void to be real and with a possible impact on their activities and their own survival. As expected, in the regression model, differences emerge between countries with a traditional strong interests’ system and countries where groups activities are usually barely regulated. The results support the idea that the distance between civil society and political representatives should be considered a prominent focus of contemporary social and political investigation in order to understand the challenge for democratic life and the possible strategy of reaction.

scholarly journals Have You Ever Seen the Void? Interest Groups Concerns Toward the Weakening Representational Role of Political Parties in European Countries

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 15
Author(s):  
Chiara Fiorelli
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Party System ◽  
Political Conflict ◽  
Economic Interests ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Policy Choices ◽  
Democratic Life

Contemporary democracies face a trend toward the diffusion of the representational void left by under- legitimized political parties (Mair 2013). The essential functions of traditional political parties to organize and articulate political conflict and societal interests have been challenged both from the inside of the party system, by the emergence of populist habits of newcomers, and from the outside, by the progressive erosion of old political culture and corresponding increasing of hostility feeling. Intermediaries organizations of political and economic interests usually push their demands toward political actors in order to shape policy choices. What can happen when the traditional party system suffers from de- legitimation? In this paper, I will try to understand the level of concern of interest organizations toward the progressive detachment of civil society from political actors, in order to define if the risk of a void of representation is perceived as real and contingent. Thanks to a new original European dataset (the Comparative Interest Groups Survey), the analysis shows that different types of interest groups perceive the void to be real and with a possible impact on their activities and their own survival. As expected, in the regression model, differences emerge between countries with a traditional strong interests’ system and countries where groups activities are usually barely regulated. The results support the idea that the distance between civil society and political representatives should be considered a prominent focus of contemporary social and political investigation in order to understand the challenge for democratic life and the possible strategy of reaction.

scholarly journals O lugar e as eleições: a expressão territorial do voto no Brasil

GeoTextos ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rubens De Toledo Júnior
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Voting Rights ◽  
Electoral Behavior ◽  
Geographical Study ◽  
Spatial Differences

Tratamos aqui das eleições brasileiras após a redemocratização e a conquista do direito a voto a todos os cargos executivos e legislativos e discorremos sobre as contribuições da Geografia para a análise desse comportamento eleitoral. Partidos políticos e candidatos de diferentes perfis possuem lógicas diversas na distribuição de seus votos, que se dão segundo a posição que possuem no espectro ideológico, repercutindo em sua atuação política e estratégia eleitoral. O estudo geográfico das diferenças socioespaciais dos votos permitiu a compreensão do papel do lugar na formação de valores e conhecimentos na formação da preferência dos eleitores, sua relação com a territorialidade dos candidatos, e uma interpretação da atual dinâmica eleitoral. Abstract THE PLACE AND THE ELECTIONS: VOTES IN BRAZIL AND ITS TERRITORIAL EXPRESSION We treat here about the Brazilian elections after the redemocratization and the voting rights conquest to all executive and legislatives posts and we discuss about the Geography contributions to analyze the electoral behavior. Political parties and candidates from different profiles hold diverse logics on theirs votes distribution, that occurs accordingly to theirs ideological spectrum position, echoing on theirs political action and electoral strategy. The geographical study of the votes socio-spatial differences permitted the understanding of the role of the place in the values formation and knowledge on the formation of the voters preferences, their relationship with the candidates territoriality, and an interpretation of the actual electoral dynamics.

18. Political Participation

2020 ◽  
pp. 318-335
Author(s):  
Herbert Kitschelt ◽  
Philipp Rehm
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Movements ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Macro Level ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
Politically Active

This chapter examines four fundamental questions relating to political participation. First, it considers different modes of political participation such as social movements, interest groups, and political parties. Second, it analyses the determinants of political participation, focusing in particular on the paradox of collective action. Third, it explains political participation at the macro-level in order to identify which contextual conditions are conducive to participation and the role of economic affluence in political participation. Finally, the chapter discusses political participation at the micro-level. It shows that both formal associations and informal social networks, configured around family and friendship ties, supplement individual capacities to engage in political participation or compensate for weak capacities, so as to boost an individual’s probability to become politically active.

18. Political participation

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Herbert Kitschelt ◽  
Philipp Rehm
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Movements ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Macro Level ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
Politically Active

This chapter examines four fundamental questions relating to political participation. First, it considers different modes of political participation such as social movements, interest groups, and political parties. Second, it analyses the determinants of political participation, focusing in particular on the paradox of collective action. Third, it explains political participation at the macro-level in order to identify which contextual conditions are conducive to participation and the role of economic affluence in political participation. Finally, the chapter discusses political participation at the micro-level. It shows that both formal associations and informal social networks, configured around family and friendship ties, supplement individual capacities to engage in political participation or compensate for weak capacities, so as to boost an individual's probability to become politically active.

New Empirical Evidence of the Role of Interest Groups in Influencing the Growth of Government

2000 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 83-100
Author(s):  
Gary A. Wagner ◽  
Russell S. Sobel
Keyword(s):  
Interest Groups ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Political Action Committees ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Status ◽  
Short Run ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Impact ◽  
New Evidence

Abstract We provide new evidence regarding the role of interest groups in influencing the size and growth of government spending. Using data on the change in individual legislators’ total voted and sponsored spending from the status quo, we explore this relationship in a manner closer to the public choice tradition. Examining the impact diat interest groups have on individual legislators’ preferences for new spending, we find that interest groups within a legislator’s district exhibit more influence on the short-run growth of the budget than do Political Action Committees.

scholarly journals The European Stability Mechanism and Domestic Preference Formation During the Eurocrisis: The Role of Non-Governmental Actors

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 475-490
Author(s):  
Jakov Bojovic ◽  
Mario Munta ◽  
Uwe Puetter
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Mechanism Design ◽  
Preference Formation ◽  
The Future ◽  
European Stability Mechanism

This article addresses a gap in the Eurocrisis literature by investigating the role of important socio-economic actors, such as representatives from organised business and labour, as well as parliamentarians in determining governmental preferences on the European Stability Mechanism during the Eurocrisis and in more recent discussions on the future of the European Stability Mechanism. It is argued that the study of the roles of key interest groups, parliaments and public opinion adds important weight to existing studies and frameworks. It speaks particularly of studies which suggest that governments enjoyed important leeway in forming their preferences on the European Stability Mechanism and were driven predominantly by internal technocratic advice and their integration into EU-level structures of bureaucratic cooperation. The findings show that initial governmental preferences were not challenged by important interest groups and that where they were challenged by parliamentary actors, concessions did not affect the original principles of the European Stability Mechanism design.

The Representation of Interests in British Government: Historical Background

1957 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 613-650 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel H. Beer
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
British Government ◽  
New Policies ◽  
Representation Of Interests ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
The Welfare State

Out-of-date ideas—if they can only manage to survive long enough—are often put to new and surprising uses. A case in point is British Toryism. This pre-capitalist, pre-individualist, pre-liberal creed, one might think, ought surely to have died out during the 19th century. Yet not only has it survived into the era of socialism, it can also claim credit for having helped build the Welfare State. And today British socialists and Tories—both collectivists in a degree—often have more in common than either have with their fellow Liberals. Old traditions of strong government, paternalism and the organic society have made easier the modern re-assertion of state power.New policies usually produce new kinds of politics. For every major concept of public policy, Schattschneider has observed, there has been a different theory of political organization. Over a period of decades, British collectivism has created not only a new pattern of policy, but also a new structure of power, especially in the realm of political parties and interest groups. Along with a collectivist theory of policy has arisen a collectivist theory of representation. And the latter, like the former, is today supported in interesting and subtle ways by attitudes and ideas deriving from a distant past. The purpose of this article is to look at the historical background of certain of these attitudes—especially those concerning the role of interest groups in politics.

Trade union revitalisation: Where are we now? Where to next?

2017 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 170-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Lyhne Ibsen ◽  
Maite Tapia
Keyword(s):  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Value Chains ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Power Resources ◽  
Institutional Frameworks ◽  
Institutional Contexts

In this article, we review and assess research on the role of trade unions in labour markets and society, the current decline of unions and union revitalisation. The review shows three main trends. First, trade unions are converging into similar strategies of revitalisation. The ‘organising model’ has spread far beyond the Anglo-Saxon countries and is now commonplace for unions as a way to reach new worker constituencies. Thus, even in ‘institutionally secure’ countries like Germany and the Nordic countries, unions are employing organising strategies while at the same time trying to defend their traditional strongholds of collective bargaining and corporatist policy-making. Second, research has shown that used strategies are not a panacea for success for unions in countries that spearheaded revitalisation. This finding points to the importance of supportive institutional frameworks if unions are to regain power. Third, especially in Anglo-Saxon countries, unions are building external coalitions with other social movements, including across borders, to compensate for the loss of power resources that were tied to national collective bargaining and policy-making. Research has shown that unions, even in adverse institutional contexts, can be effective when they reinvent their repertoires of contention, through political action or campaigning along global value chains.

Soviet Interest Groups and the Policy Process: The Repeal of Production Education

1969 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip D. Stewart
Keyword(s):  
Group Theory ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Policy Process ◽  
Political Conflict ◽  
Democratic Politics

The role of interest groups in the policy process has long engaged the attention of students of democratic politics. Only recently, however, have Soviet interest groups been studied systematically. This lag can be explained by two facts: the employment of the totalitarian model, emphasizing hierarchical controls and ignoring or denying significant political conflict; and the considerable difficulties of applying group theory to nondemocratic societies.

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