The End of Corporate Political Activity

Author(s):  
Tyler K. Wasson ◽  

Corporate political activity (CPA) is one of the most prolific academic literatures which examines the political behaviors of corporations. CPA researchers often define it as a non-market strategy which corporations can engage in to influence political outcomes that complement their market objectives. In this paper I argue that, despite continuous theoretical development, CPA has not kept pace with changes in the political role and behaviors of corporations, particularly multinational corporations (MNCs), which has resulted in an inaccurate view of the corporate political environment. Therefore, CPA theory ought to be updated to be more descriptively and theoretically accurate.

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-40
Author(s):  
M. Kh. Abdullaev

The article is devoted to an actual interdisciplinary problem at the intersection of political science and religious studies – the discourse of the political in religion, the politicization of religion, the artificial transfer of purely spiritual values, phenomena and categories into the political field in order to use religion for political purposes. The author considers the problem from two angles: (1) the politicization of religion for mercenary purposes and (2) the clergy’s political activity based on a deliberately politicized religious teaching that has a strong political platform (ideology) at its core. This study is purely theoretical, and nevertheless the author undertakes a number of empirical digressions in order to demonstrate how the politicization of religion manifests itself in the socio-political sphere of human life. Thus, the main problem of the study should be designated as a theoretical understanding and disclosure of the practical significance (i.e., risks and effects) of the religion politicization’s negativity and how it could effect on religious groups. The article identifies the objective factors of the mutual influence of religion and politics, the presence of strong political origins in a number of creeds, and the rich historical experience of the political role of faith in society.


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mélissa Mialon ◽  
Camila Corvalan ◽  
Gustavo Cediel ◽  
Fernanda Baeza Scagliusi ◽  
Marcela Reyes

Abstract Background In the business literature, the term “corporate political activity” (CPA) refers to the political strategies undertaken by corporations to protect or expend their markets, by influencing, directly or indirectly, the policy process. There is evidence that food industry actors use such political practices, which poses a significant threat to public health. Our study objective was to identify the political practices of the food industry in Chile. Results In Chile, food industry actors supported community initiatives, particularly those targeted at children and those focused on environmental sustainability. Food industry actors also funded research through prizes, scholarships, and by supporting scientific events. Food industry actors lobbied against the development and implementation of a front-of-pack nutrition labelling policy, including with support from the Ministries of Economy, Agriculture and Foreign Affairs. Food industry actors, for example, claimed that there would be unintended negative consequences for society and the economy, and that the policy would breach trade agreements. The same arguments were used against a proposed tax increase on sugar-sweetened beverages. Food industry actors stressed their crucial role in the Chilean economy and claimed to be part of the solution in the prevention and control of obesity, with a particular focus on their efforts to reformulate food products, and their support of physical activity initiatives. Interviewees noted that the political influence of the food industry is often facilitated by the neo-liberal and market-driven economy of Chile. Nevertheless, this system was questioned through social protests that started in the country during data collection. Conclusions In Chile, food industry actors used numerous action- and argument-based CPA practices which may influence public health policy, research, and practice. Despite strong influence from the food industry, Chile adopted a front-of-pack nutrition labelling policy. While the country has some measures in place to manage the interactions between government officials or public health professionals, and the industry, there is still a need to develop robust mechanisms to address undue influence from corporations.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 369-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nico Carpentier

Laclau and Mouffe's discourse theory has played a significant role in thinking through the political role of knowledge and ideology, without ignoring the significance of the material, also in relation to its post-Marxist agenda and the de-essentialisation of class relations. At the same time, there is a need to enrich discourse theory, by finding a better balance between the discursive and the material, and by providing a better theoretisation of the entanglement of the discursive and the material. This article remains grounded in, and loyal to, discourse theory, but aims to learn from new materialism in order to develop a non-hierarchical theory of entanglement, as a discursive-material knot. In particular, it investigates the theoreticalconceptual potential of three concepts, namely the assemblage, the invitation and the investment. This theoretical development also has strategic importance, in that it facilitates a better and more constructive dialogue between different (critical) fields, for instance, between those that are explicitly engaged with discourse theory and new materialism, but also between the emancipatory project(s) that post-Marxism advocates, namely cultural studies and (critical) political economy.


2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mehmet Özay

‘Abd al-Raḥmān al-Ẓāhir (1833-1896) was an influential, dynamic Hadhrami. He was a Muslim reformer, as well as a savvy businessman and formidable diplomat. Arriving in Aceh in 1864, he embarked on both business and political endeavors, as religious and trade experiences helped develop diplomatic ties between the locals, the Ottomans, and the European powers. Although he surrendered in 1878 to the Dutch, his activities and influence were increasingly common subjects for different colonial newspapers until the middle of the 20th century. This article re-examines al-Ẓāhir’s political role and his various interactions with Acehnese royal contends. It investigates his interactions with the Aceh court, the uleebalang, and the Dutch, as well as the socio-political environment that informed his surrender to the Dutch. Through investigations of numerous Ottoman, Dutch and indigenous sources, this article offers a glimpse into the reality of the indigenous responses to the decisions of this most trusted Hadhrami.


2018 ◽  
Vol 60 (3) ◽  
pp. 854-868
Author(s):  
David E. Cavazos ◽  
Karen D.W. Patterson ◽  
Mathew A. Rutherford

Purpose This study aims to examine conditions in which firm political market performance is associated with firm efforts to influence regulatory outcomes. Applying measures of political market performance based on firm performance in government enforcement actions and a firm’s ability to obtain favorable political outcomes, the authors make the case that political market performance is a key part of competitive political markets, which is associated with particular types of firm efforts to influence policy. Design/methodology/approach Longitudinal examination of nine automobile manufacturers during National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration crash tests reveals that firm performance in government enforcement activities is associated with greater efforts to cooperate with political suppliers, while declining firm performance in efforts to influence political outcomes is associated with increased firm opposition to political supplier actions. Findings Firm performance in government enforcement activities is associated with greater efforts to cooperate with political suppliers, while declining firm performance in efforts to influence political outcomes is associated with increased firm opposition to political supplier actions. Research limitations/implications Performance in regulatory enforcement results in increased firm actions to engage regulators in the policy-making process, while performance in obtaining desired policy outcomes is associated with a greater focus on opposition to proposed standards. These results suggest that political demanders can take deliberate actions to either engage or oppose supplier actions based on political market performance. Originality/value The primary contribution of this research is to begin to examine the implications of performance dynamics within political markets. Adding the construct of political market performance to the political markets framework reveals that variations in political market performance can be associated with specific types of corporate political activity.


1972 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gene R. Garthwaite

Great power rivalry in nineteenth and early twentieth century Iran and the Qajar dynasty's dependence upon British and Russian support have long attracted the attention of western scholars. Recent scholarship also has begun tocus on internal power shifts in response to these conditions. An important element in these processes, but one which has been relatively unstudied, is political change within the great tribal confederations, especially the Bakhtiyâri. A number of elements contributed to the political transformation of the Bakhtiyâri. To begin with, the heightening of political activity in the tribe coincided with a decline of central power and authority and the growth of Anglo-Russian rivalry in Iran. Also significant was the concentration of powerand wealth within one princely family of the Bakhtiyâri. In addition a number of economic and strategic factors played a role in creating a new alignment of power among the Bakhtiyâri and Tehran and Great Britain. Chief among these elements were the increasing strategic and economic importance of the Bakhtiyâri winter pasture area in Khuzistan following the discovery of the oil fields there and the new national political role played by the Bakhtiyâri following the Persian Revolution.


2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 24-30
Author(s):  
O. V. Deliia

The macro-objective level of studying the political environment of state policy actualizes the comprehension of the political system in the structure of the external environment through the description of the category «political culture». In general, scientific understanding of the phenomenon of political culture has become a derivative of various research traditions. At the present stage, it is possible to identify several more or less formalized conceptual positions on this matter: subjective objective approaches, cultural and political doctrines.The essence of political culture unites the behavioral, activity aspects of subjects in the sphere of politics and the way the political system operates. Also, the notion of political culture captures the established system of values, norms, institutions, political consciousness that has developed historically, and the forms of political activity that correspond to it. At the same time, all these concepts, approaches have a point of intersection, which represents the main environmental feature of the phenomenon of political culture - universality, presence in one form or another in all spheres of social life.Domestic researchers recognize and underscore the importance of the influence of political culture on the whole complex of relations between the participants in the political process, the form of organization of state power, the form and effectiveness of the political system, the structure of institutions of power, the ability of political culture through its regulatory mechanisms to achieve social consensus, to promote or impede democratic development national state. At the same time, the problem of the environmental significance of political culture for public policy in foreign and domestic scientific discourses arises more theoretically than practical.In our case, the empirical basis for such a reflection was the information and analytical materials of the Razumkov Center «Political Culture and Parliamentarism in Ukraine: Current Status and Main Problems». Proceeding from this generalization, political culture in the structure of the political environment is a systematically organized integrity whose influence extends to its sphere components (mental, social, institutional, economic, etc.), Their interaction, the result of interaction. And finds its manifestation at all levels of society. The combination of these areas and their content is the conditions and factors of the public policy environment.


1983 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 845-865 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iván Zoltán Dénes

Around the middle of the nineteenth century, the Hungarian conservatives made a number of attempts decisively to influence the course of events in the Austrian empire and in the kingdom of Hungary, but failed on each occasion. What exactly had they wanted, and why did they fail to achieve it? How did they try to appear to others, and how did they see themselves? What political identity, if any, did they have? Was there anything special about the way their political activity and their perception of themselves bore on one another as compared to other nineteenth-century conservatives? What follows is an attempt to give answers to these questions.


Organization ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 135050842092851
Author(s):  
John Murray ◽  
Mikkel Flyverbom

Digital transformations have significant consequences for organizational attempts to shape their environments. Our focus is on how corporate political activity evolves in ways that require us to pay more attention to how information gets structured in digital spaces, and on how information ecosystems operate and shape strategic communication activities in organizational settings. We outline these digital transformations, offer a focus on corporate political activity as informational and develop a typology of datafied corporate political activity techniques to illustrate how the workings of digital spaces shape political issues more concretely. This serves to highlight the necessity of extending the focus of informational corporate political activity beyond the contents of overt and direct messages to include the more covert and subtle forms of influence made possible through the strategic structuring of information itself. This also contributes to our understanding of the political significance of corporate political activity, which is less about influencing political issues by composing appealing messages and distributing them to relevant audiences, and more about influencing political issues by organizing digital information and feeding algorithms. We suggest that such datastructures and algorithmic forms of sorting will become as important as message contents, and that datafied advocacy will become a central component of corporate political activity and other organizational activities.


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 8-23
Author(s):  
Mark A. Fuller ◽  
Chris Bart

In this study, we examine two key issues situated at the intersection of corporate governance and corporate political activity literature. The first is whether the presence of ex-politicians or former government officials on a corporate board provides a competitive advantage for the firm. A second, related question is whether the presence of these outside directors on the board of directors is perceived as desirable by their fellow directors. While some have characterized the study of board processes as a black box (Leblanc, 2003; Pugliese et al., 2009) due to the difficulty in acquiring data, we circumvented this challenge by directly surveying 82 Canadian board members, then delved deeper with ten directors using supplemental qualitative interviews. The results were examined via the lens of strategic positioning theory in contrast to the well-worn use of agency and resource dependency theories in the literature. Our findings suggest that heterogeneous benefits may accrue depending upon the industry involved, and the political experience of the director(s) in question. However, a majority of current directors expressed significant reservations concerning the appointment of a political director. These findings, combined with the understudied Canadian context and the use of qualitative research methods, contribute to the extant literature.


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