Sobre Mark Wasserman, Pesos and Politics. Business, Elites, Foreigner, and Government in Mexico, 1854-1940

Abstract A large body of literature on state–business relations in China has examined the political role of capitalists and collusion between the state and the private sector. This paper contributes to that literature and understanding of the internal differentiation among China's business elites by documenting the emergence of a particular kind of large, non-state business group that we argue is more akin to a mafia system than any standard definition of a firm. Drawing on large-N descriptive data as well as deep ethnographic and documentary research, we argue that mafia-like business systems share organizational principles (plunder and obfuscation) and means of growth and survival (relations of mutual endangerment and manipulation of the financial system). Understanding the particular moral economy that underlies mafia-like business systems and their interactions with the state challenges methodological foundations of research on China's political economy and helps to explain recent conflict between high-profile business people and the state.

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Hong Kong's Stunted Political Party System

The China Quarterly ◽

10.1017/s0009443902000591 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 172 ◽

pp. 1010-1028 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Lau Siu-kai ◽

Kuan Hsin-chi

Keyword(s):

Hong Kong ◽

Political Parties ◽

Political Party ◽

Party System ◽

Public Attitudes ◽

Political Class ◽

Business Elites ◽

British Colony ◽

Political Party System ◽

Representation Of Interests

Hong Kong's political parties are now in decline after the return of the former British colony to China. The decline of political parties stands out in stark relief in a context featuring “Hong Kong people governing Hong Kong” and gradual democratization. A major reason for the decline is the stunted political party system of Hong Kong. Prominent in that stunted system is the absence of a ruling party. The stunted party system is primarily the result of Beijing's antipathy towards party politics in Hong Kong, which in turn discourages party formation by the Hong Kong government and the conservative elites. The lack of incentives for the business elites to organize political parties to protect their interests is another major reason. The stunted party system has produced serious adverse consequences for the governance of Hong Kong, representation of interests, public attitudes towards the political class and the further democratization of the territory.

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The Involvement of Business Elites in the Management of Homelessness: Towards a Privatization of Service Provision for Homeless People?

Urban Affairs Review ◽

10.1177/10780874211073882 ◽

2022 ◽

pp. 107808742110738

Author(s):

Antonin Margier

Keyword(s):

Private Sector ◽

Public Space ◽

Homeless People ◽

The United States ◽

Homeless Shelters ◽

Public Authorities ◽

Business Elites ◽

Outreach Programs ◽

Urban Elites ◽

Property Owners

Although the influence of local urban elites on urban planning is well established in urban studies and geography, the ways in which business and property owners take part in the management of homelessness has received far less attention. This article focuses on Portland (OR) in the United States as a means of understanding the motivations that underlie the role of the private sector and its impact on public policies. To this end, I focus on the support by Portland's downtown Business Improvement District of homeless outreach programs, and on the funding of two homeless shelters by business elites / philanthropists. I argue that although public authorities have different views on the actions to be taken to end homelessness, business elites often manage to bring initially-reluctant public authorities to support their projects in what might be termed a forced-march cooperation. I also highlight the versatility of the private sector and business elites’ participation in homelessness management, given that the outreach programs they support and the homeless facilities they fund provide services for the homeless while simultaneously removing them from visible public space. In this sense, the involvement of business and property owners is also a way for them to protect their own interests.

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Reframing the Ideal Citizen in Turkey: National Belonging and Economic Success in the Era of Neo-Liberalism

New Perspectives on Turkey ◽

10.1017/s0896634600005938 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 44 ◽

pp. 41-72 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

özlem Altan-Olcay

Keyword(s):

Business Success ◽

Social Rights ◽

Economic Success ◽

National Belonging ◽

Business Elites ◽

Mainstream Media ◽

Cultural Productions ◽

The Media ◽

Economic Necessity ◽

Cultural Tools

AbstractThis paper explores how discourses of nationalism and neo-liberal conceptualizations of economic performance interact in Turkey, by analyzing cultural productions about business elites and workers in the media. I take up both business elites' attempts at self-representation and how mainstream media portrays them to argue that these actors attempt to draw the contours of national belonging with respect to economic success. Even though the representations are diverse in definitions of national identity, they all formulate service to the nation in terms of business success and market performance. In addition, struggles with syndicated labor also produce relevant discourses of economic necessity and rationality only to be challenged by other ideas of political belonging, drawing their force from social rights. These reveal the contingency of formulations that construct desirable citizenship on the basis of one's ability to contribute to economic growth. Through these examples, I suggest that discourses about market economies do not necessarily divest themselves of nation-state frameworks. Instead, they interact with cultural tools in local contexts, producing new social and political constellations that attempt to explain shifting social stratifications. I argue that these struggles over representation are part of a terrain of banal nationalism, transforming connotations of economic rationality, national belonging, and citizenship.

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Up with ecology, down with economy? The consolidation of the idea of climate change mitigation in the global public sphere

European Journal of Communication ◽

10.1177/0267323118790155 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 33 (6) ◽

pp. 587-603 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Tuomas Ylä-Anttila ◽

Juho Vesa ◽

Veikko Eranti ◽

Anna Kukkonen ◽

Tomi Lehtimäki ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Public Sphere ◽

Climate Change Mitigation ◽

Analytical Framework ◽

Economic Evaluations ◽

Business Elites ◽

The Public ◽

The Public Sphere ◽

Change Mitigation ◽

Over Time

Building on theories of valuation and evaluation, we develop an analytical framework that outlines six elements of the process of consolidation of an idea in the public sphere. We then use the framework to analyse the process of consolidation of the idea of climate change mitigation between 1997 and 2013, focusing on the interplay between ecological and economic evaluations. Our content analysis of 1274 articles in leading newspapers in five countries around the globe shows that (1) ecological arguments increase over time, (2) economic arguments decrease over time, (3) the visibility of environmental nongovernmental organizations as carriers of ecological ideas increases over time, (4) the visibility of business actors correspondingly decreases, (5) ecological ideas are increasingly adopted by political and business elites and (6) a compromise emerges between ecological and economic evaluations, in the form of the argument that climate change mitigation boosts, rather than hinders economic growth.

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The Eurozone crisis and Italian corporate governance: the end of blockholding?

Modern Italy ◽

10.1017/s1353294400014824 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 20 (4) ◽

pp. 365-378 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Fabio Bulfone

Keyword(s):

Corporate Governance ◽

Sovereign Debt ◽

Debt Crisis ◽

Informal Institutions ◽

Eurozone Crisis ◽

Process Of Change ◽

Business Elites ◽

Legal Reforms ◽

Italian Case ◽

Behavioural Patterns

This article explains the process of change in domestic corporate governance. An actor-centred coalitional approach is applied to the Italian case to show how the main features of domestic corporate governance are a product of behavioural patterns (i.e. informal institutions), rather than formal legislation. Leveraging their superior financial means, business elites act as institutional incumbents shaping these informal institutions according to their preferences. It is argued that a change in corporate practices is more likely to be triggered by a socio-economic crisis, which weakens the domestic elite's influence, rather than a legal reform. These findings call into question the excessively formalistic approach of many corporate governance scholars, and are confirmed by the Italian trajectory. After having resisted 20 years of liberalising legal reforms aimed at eroding their power, Italian blockholders are now being forced, as a consequence of the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis, to dismantle their cross-shareholding networks.

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