Democratic State and Corporate Business: The Unfolding Relationship in the Era of Economic Liberalisation
| DOI | 10.1177/0019556120150303 |
| Published date | 01 July 2015 |
| Date | 01 July 2015 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
DEMOCRATIC STATE AND CORPORATE BUSINESS:
THE
UNFOLDING RELATIONSHIP IN
THE
ERA
OF
ECONOMIC LIBERALISATION
ROOPINDER
OBEROI
The analysis
of
state-business relations and the process
by
which public policies are crafted is crucial
for
understanding
the nature
and
trajectory
of
contemporary
development
approaches
and
their distributional
and
social consequences
in democratic polity.
Of
particular concern is the question
of
business clout
and
its sway on public institutions and policy
making. Worrisome, however, is that in the process
of
crafting
the liaison with business, issues
of
institutional capture
and
the facilitation
and
legitimisation
of
corporate capitalism are
often overlooked. Variety
of
methods, including corruption by
business associations as well as influence exercised via less
overt channels, result in the reciprocal dependence between
business
and
government. This article particularly focuses on
analysing the changing nature
of
engagement between business
and
state in Indian polity while applying historiography as
a ·technique to spotlight on political economy
of
reforms.
Topical studies are revisiting this liaison
and
have arrived
at
the conclusion that, no doubt, there has been an ascendancy in
capitalist sway over the state
of
late, but these studies reaffirm
that capitalist class was always key agent precisely from the
beginning
and
has exercised unremitting pressure till
day.
Capitalism and Democracy:
An
'Out-ofordinary 'Affiliation
POLITICS, LASSWELL wrote, is about who gets what, when and how
(Lasswell 1958 [1936]). Today, hardly anyone would disbelieve that
business is a formidable political actor enjoying a distinctive place in
the political landscape. In a review
of
the literature on corporate political
activity, Hillman, Keirn and Schuler (2004: 838) find it 'indisputable that
business firm is among the most outstanding political players not only in
Washington, DC, but in capitals across the globe'. Therefore, questions
about the extent
of
business's political power and the rationalisation
of
such
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