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The Political Power of Business: Structure and Information in Public Policy-Making book cover

1st Edition

The Political Power of Business Structure and Information in Public Policy-Making

By Patrick Bernhagen Copyright 2007
192 Pages 6 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

192 Pages 6 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

This book analyzes the influence of business in democratic politics. Advice from business actors regularly carries more weight with policymakers than other interests because it refers to the core of the state-market nexus in democratic capitalism: the consequences for voters and policymakers of harming business and the economy. The book examines the resulting informational and structural... Read more

Tables and Figures

Acknowledgements

1 INTRODUCTION

Linking Action and Structure: The Power of Being Informed

Approach and Methods

Key Terms and Concepts

Structure of the Book

2 GROUPS, INSTITUTIONS, NETWORKS, IDEOLOGY, OR STRUCTURAL DEPENDENCE: WHAT DRIVES BUSINESS POWER?

Pluralism and the Study of Business as an Interest Group

Neocorporatist Systems and Coordinated Market Economies

The Analysis of Elite Networks and Policy Communities

Ideological Dominance

Structural Explanations of Business Dominance

3 AN INFORMATIONAL–STRUCTURAL MODEL OF BUSINESS POWER

Informational Asymmetries Between Business Actors and Policymakers

Signalling Models of Lobbying

Reputation and Lobbying

4 TWO REAL-WORLD SIGNALLING GAMES

A Note on Case Selection

Regulation of Small Business Banking in England and Wales

Phasing out PVC from Public Construction in Hesse

Discussion

5 REPUTATION AND INFORMATIVENESS IN LOBBYING

Data: The 1996 European Members of Parliament Study

Lobbying, Reputation Costs, and Ideological Proximity

Business Contacts and Influential Lobbying

Discussion

6 STRUCTURE, INFORMATION, AND ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATION

Business Preferences on Environmental Regulation

Dowsing Flooded Fields for Underground Water

Measuring Structural Constraints and Information Asymmetry

Sources and Limits of Business Power: International Trade, Neocorporatism and Eco Groups

7 CONCLUSIONS: INFORMATION, STRUCTURE, AND THE PROSPECTS FOR DEMOCRACY UNDER CAPITALISM

Informational Asymmetry in the Repertoire of Political Recourses

Outlook: Can Policymakers’ Information Problems Be Alleviated?

Appendix A: Interviews and Personal Communications

Appendix B: Coding and Data Sources of Variables Used in Ch. 5

Appendix C: Coding, Data Sources and Summary Statistics of Variables Used in Ch. 6

Appendix D: Jack-knifed Estimates of Regression Models in Ch. 6

Bibliography

Biography

Patrick Bernhagen is Lecturer at the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Aberdeen, UK.

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