American Business and Political Power: Public Opinion, Elections, and DemocracyMost people believe that large corporations wield enormous political power when they lobby for policies as a cohesive bloc. With this controversial book, Mark A. Smith sets conventional wisdom on its head. In a systematic analysis of postwar lawmaking, Smith reveals that business loses in legislative battles unless it has public backing. This surprising conclusion holds because the types of issues that lead businesses to band together—such as tax rates, air pollution, and product liability—also receive the most media attention. The ensuing debates give citizens the information they need to hold their representatives accountable and make elections a choice between contrasting policy programs. Rather than succumbing to corporate America, Smith argues, representatives paradoxically become more responsive to their constituents when facing a united corporate front. Corporations gain the most influence over legislation when they work with organizations such as think tanks to shape Americans' beliefs about what government should and should not do. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
Business Unity and Its Consequences for Representative Democracy | 13 |
Identifying Business Unity | 37 |
A Portrait of Unifying Issues | 63 |
Public Opinion Elections and Lawmaking | 89 |
Overt Sources of Business Power | 115 |
Structural Sources of Business Power | 143 |
The Role of Business in Shaping Public Opinion | 167 |
The Compatibility of Business Unity and Popular Sovereignty | 197 |
Additional Coding Rules Used to Uncover Positions of the US Chamber of Commerce | 215 |
The Potential for Feedback between Policy and Opinion | 217 |
223 | |
237 | |
Other editions - View all
American Business and Political Power: Public Opinion, Elections, and Democracy Mark A. Smith No preview available - 2000 |
Common terms and phrases
agenda analysis attitudes toward corporations balanced budget amendment bill Bokat business community business power Business Roundtable business unity Chamber of Commerce Chamber's positions changes chapter citizens coefficient companies conflictual issues congressional conservative think tanks constituents coverage debates democracy Democratic dependent variable determine division votes Durbin-Watson statistic economic effect elected officials election outcomes electoral empirical enacted estimated F-statistic favorable to business federal firms impacts important includes indicators industries influence Institute interaction terms interest groups lawmaking legislative action legislative decisions liberal liberal-conservative lobbying mass media measure officeholders opinion and elections opposed organizations particularistic and conflictual particularistic issues parties percent perspective policy decisions policymaking politicians popular sovereignty potential principal components analysis programs public attitudes public mood public opinion questions relationship representative democracy responsiveness Roundtable salient scholars Senate social specific structural power structuralist theory U.S. Chamber unified business unifying issues votes
Popular passages
Page 226 - From management sciences to policy sciences;' in Michael J. White et al. (eds.), Management and Policy Science in American Government. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, pp. 269-295. Dryzek, John (1982). "Policy analysis as a hermeneutic activity;' Policy Sciences 14: 309-329. Dye, Thomas R. (1978). "Oligarchic tendencies in national policy-making: the role of private policyplanning organizations;' Journal of Politics 40: 309-333.