The Political Construction Of Business Interests

The Political Construction of Business Interests recounts employers' struggles to define their collective social identities at turning points in capitalist development.

The Political Construction of Business Interests recounts employers' struggles to define their collective social identities at turning points in capitalist development.

The Political Construction of Business Interests recounts employers' struggles to define their collective social identities at turning points in capitalist development.

This book examines contemporary changes in labor market institutions in the United States, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and the Netherlands, focusing on developments in three arenas - industrial relations, vocational education and training, and labor market policy. While confirming a broad, shared liberalizing trend, it finds that there are in fact distinct varieties of liberalization associated with very different distributive outcomes. Most scholarship equates liberal capitalism with inequality and coordinated capitalism with higher levels of social solidarity. However, this study explains why the institutions of coordinated capitalism and egalitarian capitalism coincided and complemented one another in the "Golden Era" of postwar development in the 1950s and 1960s, and why they no longer do so. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, this study reveals that the successful defense of the institutions traditionally associated with coordinated capitalism has often been a recipe for increased inequality due to declining coverage and dualization. Conversely, it argues that some forms of labor market liberalization are perfectly compatible with continued high levels of social solidarity and indeed may be necessary to sustain it.

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 th

Based on a survey of all national business associations, and interviews with many interest-group executives, Business and Politics outlines the wide variety of roles assumed by interest groups in the Canadian policy process. Coleman argues that the present fragmention of business interests makes consultation with major socio-economic producer groups highly unlikely. Instead, adjustment takes place as a series of ad hoc bailouts related to an electoral calculus rather than to a more reflective consideration of the longer-term evolution of the Canadian economy and the relative economic position of Canadians. As there are no organizations that prompt business to take a broad look at its responsibilities to society at large, some economic policy options that political leaders might want to consider are ruled out. Attempts to redress difficulties in the Canadian economy and social welfare system consequently suffer. Coleman concludes that the business community is not appropriately accountable to Canadians for its actions, nor is it sufficiently organized to assume the political responsibilities that come with the private economic power it possesses. He argues that Canada could benefit from examining models of the political institutions in smaller European states and adopting some of their solutions for reform in this country.

The large business corporation has become a governing institution in national and global politics. This study offers a critical account of its political dominance and lack of democratic legitimacy.