IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ehl/lserod/62123.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Structural power in comparative political economy:perspectives from policy formulation in Latin America

Author

Listed:
  • Fairfield, Tasha

Abstract

Structural power is a critical variable that merits more extensive and more explicit attention in Latin American political economy and in comparative politics more broadly. Assessing structural power in conjunction with its counterpart, instrumental power, can provide strong leverage for explaining variation in policy outcomes that affect business interests. However, structural power must be carefully defined and operationalized in order to capture its core attributes and nuances. This task requires wedding the concept’s “structural” underpinnings with policymakers’ perceptions and anticipated reactions. Moreover, the relationship between structural power and instrumental power must be carefully theorized. While these concepts encompass distinct channels through which business exerts influence, the two types of power may be mutually reinforcing. I argue that business interests shape policy outcomes when either their structural power or their instrumental power is strong, yet business influence will be more extensive and more consistent when structural power and instrumental power are both strong. However, electoral incentives, and more importantly, popular mobilization, can counteract business power. I illustrate these theoretical points with a case study of Chile’s 2014 tax reform proposal, a major policy initiative with important distributive consequences that received international press attention.

Suggested Citation

  • Fairfield, Tasha, 2015. "Structural power in comparative political economy:perspectives from policy formulation in Latin America," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 62123, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:62123
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/62123/
    File Function: Open access version.
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:idq:ictduk:13744 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Kaplan,Stephen B., 2013. "Globalization and Austerity Politics in Latin America," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107017979, November.
    3. Culpepper,Pepper D., 2011. "Quiet Politics and Business Power," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521118590, November.
    4. Feldstein, Martin, 1995. "The Effect of Marginal Tax Rates on Taxable Income: A Panel Study of the 1986 Tax Reform Act," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 103(3), pages 551-572, June.
    5. Luger,Stan, 2000. "Corporate Power, American Democracy, and the Automobile Industry," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521631730, November.
    6. Feldstein, Martin, 1995. "The Effect of Marginal Tax Rates on Taxable Income: A Panel Study of the 1986 Tax Reform Act," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 103(3), pages 551-572, June.
    7. Campello,Daniela, 2015. "The Politics of Market Discipline in Latin America," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107039254, November.
    8. Handley,Antoinette, 2008. "Business and the State in Africa," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521886055, November.
    9. Handley,Antoinette, 2008. "Business and the State in Africa," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521713719, November.
    10. Kaplan,Stephen B., 2013. "Globalization and Austerity Politics in Latin America," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107670761, November.
    11. Culpepper,Pepper D., 2011. "Quiet Politics and Business Power," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521134132, November.
    12. George Avelino & David S. Brown & Wendy Hunter, 2005. "The Effects of Capital Mobility, Trade Openness, and Democracy on Social Spending in Latin America, 1980–1999," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 49(3), pages 625-641, July.
    13. Pepper D. Culpepper & Raphael Reinke, 2014. "Structural Power and Bank Bailouts in the United Kingdom and the United States," Politics & Society, , vol. 42(4), pages 427-454, December.
    14. Etchemendy,Sebastián, 2011. "Models of Economic Liberalization," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521763127, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Culpepper Pepper D., 2015. "Structural power and political science in the post-crisis era," Business and Politics, De Gruyter, vol. 17(3), pages 391-409, October.
    2. Duvanova Dinissa & Sokhey Sarah Wilson, 2016. "Choosing which firms to help in crisis: evidence from the emerging European economies," Business and Politics, De Gruyter, vol. 18(3), pages 225-262, October.
    3. Matthew Amengual & Salo Coslovsky & Duanyi Yang, 2017. "Who opposes labor regulation? Explaining variation in employers’ opinions," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 11(4), pages 404-421, December.
    4. Pritish Behuria, 2019. "The comparative political economy of plastic bag bans in East Africa: why implementation has varied in Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series 372019, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    5. Dafe, Florence, 2018. "Fuelled power: oil, financiers and central bank policy in Nigeria," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 89610, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Franziska Cooiman, 2024. "Imprinting the economy: The structural power of venture capital," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 56(2), pages 586-602, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Fairfield Tasha, 2015. "Structural power in comparative political economy: perspectives from policy formulation in Latin America," Business and Politics, De Gruyter, vol. 17(3), pages 411-441, October.
    2. Pritish Behuria, 2019. "The comparative political economy of plastic bag bans in East Africa: why implementation has varied in Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series 372019, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    3. Pritish Behuria, 2019. "African development and the marginalisation of domestic capitalists," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series esid-115-19, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    4. Cormier, Ben, 2022. "Partisan external borrowing in middle-income countries," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 113929, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    5. Kevin Young & Stefano Pagliari, 2017. "Capital united? Business unity in regulatory politics and the special place of finance," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 11(1), pages 3-23, March.
    6. Armin Mertens & Christine Trampusch & Florian Fastenrath & Rebecca Wangemann, 2021. "The political economy of local government financialization and the role of policy diffusion," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(2), pages 370-387, April.
    7. Lisa Kastner, 2017. "Business lobbying under salience," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-02187871, HAL.
    8. Christine Trampusch & Florian Fastenrath, 2021. "States' interests as limits to the power of finance: Regulatory reforms in early local government financialization in the US and UK," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(2), pages 245-261, April.
    9. Lisa Kastner, 2017. "Business lobbying under salience," Post-Print hal-02187871, HAL.
    10. Culpepper Pepper D., 2015. "Structural power and political science in the post-crisis era," Business and Politics, De Gruyter, vol. 17(3), pages 391-409, October.
    11. Winecoff William Kindred, 2015. "Structural power and the global financial crisis: a network analytical approach," Business and Politics, De Gruyter, vol. 17(3), pages 495-525, October.
    12. Woll, Cornelia, 2015. "Politics in the interest of capital: A not-so-organized combat," MaxPo Discussion Paper Series 15/2, Max Planck Sciences Po Center on Coping with Instability in Market Societies (MaxPo).
    13. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/6sio9gcc4m9nr96pqt3c5at95b is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Marsh David & Akram Sadiya & Birkett Holly, 2015. "The structural power of business: taking structure, agency and ideas seriously," Business and Politics, De Gruyter, vol. 17(3), pages 577-601, October.
    15. Abdelal Rawi, 2015. "The multinational firm and geopolitics: Europe, Russian energy, and power," Business and Politics, De Gruyter, vol. 17(3), pages 553-576, October.
    16. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/6sio9gcc4m9nr96pqt3c5at95b is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Cormier, Benjamin & Naqvi, Natalya, 2023. "Delegating discipline: how indexes restructured the political economy of sovereign bond markets," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 117248, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    18. Scott James & Lucia Quaglia, 2023. "Epistemic contestation and interagency conflict: The challenge of regulating investment funds," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(2), pages 346-362, April.
    19. Goes, Iasmin & Kaplan, Stephen B., 2024. "Crude credit: The political economy of natural resource booms and sovereign debt management," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    20. Tran, Chung & Wende, Sebastian, 2021. "On the marginal excess burden of taxation in an overlapping generations model," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    21. Charles Grant & Christos Koulovatianos & Alexander Michaelides & Mario Padula, 2010. "Evidence on the Insurance Effect of Redistributive Taxation," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 92(4), pages 965-973, November.
    22. Sammartino, Frank & Weiner, David, 1997. "Recent Evidence on Taxpayers' Response to the Rate Increases in the 1990s," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association, vol. 50(3), pages 683-705, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    business power; taxation; Chile;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:62123. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: LSERO Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/lsepsuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.