Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T20:06:55.333Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The political roots of intermediated lobbying: evidence from Russian enterprises and business associations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 February 2017

Andrei Govorun ,
Israel Marques II  and
William Pyle
Andrei Govorun
Affiliation:
National Research University Higher School of Economics, International Center for the Study of Institutions and Development, Moscow, Russian Federation
Israel Marques II
Affiliation:
National Research University Higher School of Economics — Department of Political Science International Center for the Study of Institutions and Development, Moscow, Russian Federation
William Pyle*
Affiliation:
National Research University Higher School of Economics, International Center for the Study of Institutions and Development, Moscow, Russian Federation
*
Corresponding author: Middlebury College, Department of Economics, 148 Hillcrest Road Robert A. Jones ‘59 House 202, Middlebury, VT 05753, USA, e-mail: [email protected]
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

A business enterprise interested in influencing the design, adoption or enforcement of a particular law, rule or regulation often confronts a choice. Does it lobby officials directly? Or does it do so indirectly, using a collective action group as an intermediary? We draw on data from a large, 2010 survey of enterprises across the Russian Federation to demonstrate that the propensity to engage in intermediated lobbying increases with region-level political competition. Our explanation builds on recent evidence confirming Mancur Olson's claim (1982) that less encompassing actors tend to lobby for more distortionary policies. We hypothesize that with greater political competition government officials become more responsive to encompassing voices (i.e. associations of businesses as opposed to single firms), since the electoral costs of being captured by narrower interests becomes greater. Evidence from a complementary survey of regional business association managers points in the same direction; the relative attention paid by officials to lobbying efforts by encompassing associations increases with political competition.

Type
Research Article
Information
Business and Politics , Volume 18 , Issue 4 , December 2016 , pp. 395 - 433
Copyright
Copyright © 2016 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston 

References

Ashwin, Sarah, and Clarke, Simon. 2002. Trade Unions and Industrial Relations in Post-Communist Russia. New York: Palgrave.Google Scholar
Barber, Benjamin, Pierskalla, Jan, and Weschle, Simon. 2014. “Lobbying and the Collective Action Problem: Comparative Evidence from Enterprise Surveys.” Business and Politics 16 (2): 221–246.Google Scholar
Bombardini, Matilde and Trebbi, Francesco. 2012. “Competition and Political Organization: Together or Alone in Lobbying for Trade Policy?” Journal of International Economics 87 (1): 18–26.Google Scholar
Bueno de Mesquita, Bruce, Smith, Alastair, Siverson, Randolph, and Morrow, James. 2003. The Logic of Political Survival. Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Cheibub, Jose, Gandhi, Jennifer, and Vreeland, James. 2010. “Democracy and Dictatorship Revisited.” Public Choice 143 (1–2): 67–101.Google Scholar
Chong, Alberto, and Gradstein, Mark. 2010. “Firm-level Determinants of Political Influence.” Economics and Politics 22 (3): 233–256.Google Scholar
Cook, Linda. 2007. Postcommunist Welfare States: Reform Politics in Russia and Eastern Europe. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Dahl, Robert. 1971. Polyarchy: Participation and Opposition. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Duvanova, Dinissa. 2013. Building Business in Post-Communist Russia, Eastern Europe, and Eurasia: Collective Goods, Selective Incentives, and Predatory States. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Fish, M. Steven. 2005. Democracy Derailed in Russia: The Failure of Open Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Franzese, Robert. 2005. “Empirical Strategies for Various Manifestations of Multilevel Data.” Political Analysis 13 (4): 430–446.Google Scholar
Freinkman, Lev, and Plekhanov, Alexander. 2009. “Fiscal Decentralization in Rentier Regions: Evidence from Russia.” World Development 37 (2): 503–512.Google Scholar
Frye, Timothy. 2002. “Capture or Exchange: Business Lobbying in Russia.” Europe-Asia Studies 54 (7): 1017–1036.Google Scholar
Frye, Timothy, John Reuter, Ora, and Szakonyi, David. 2014. “Political Machines at Work: Voter Mobilization and Electoral Subversion in the Workplace.” World Politics 66 (2): 195–228.Google Scholar
Gehlbach, Scott. 2008. Representation through Taxation: Revenue, Politics, and Development in Postcommunist States. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Gehlbach, Scott, Sonin, Konstantin, and Zhuravskaya, Ekaterina. 2010. “Businessman Candidates.” American Journal of Political Science 54 (3): 718–736.Google Scholar
Gelman, Andrew, and Hill, Jennifer. 2007. Data Analysis: Using Regression and Multilevel/Hierarchical Models. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Gray, Virginia, and Lowery, David. 1988. “Interest Group Politics and Economic Growth in the U.S. States.” American Political Science Review 82 (1): 109–131.Google Scholar
Grier, Kevin, Munger, Michael, and Roberts, Brian. 1994. “The Determinants of Industry Political Activity, 1978–1986.” American Political Science Review 88 (4): 911–926.Google Scholar
Guriev, Sergei, and Rachinsk, Andrei. 2005. “The Role of Oligarchs in Russian Capitalism.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 19 (1): 131–150.Google Scholar
Guriev, Sergei, Yakovlev, Evgeny, and Zhuravskaya, Ekaterina. 2010. “Interest Group Politics in a Federation.” Journal of Public Economics 94 (9–10): 730–748.Google Scholar
Hart, David. 2004. “‘Business’ Is Not an Interest Group: On the Study of Companies in American National Politics.” Annual Review of Political Science 7: 47–69.Google Scholar
Jankowski, Richard. 1989. “Preference Aggregation in Firms and Corporatist Organizations: The Enterprise Group as a Cellular Encompassing Organization”. American Journal of Political Science 33 (4): 973–996.Google Scholar
Kanol, Direnc. 2015. “Social Influence, Competition and the Act of Lobbying.” Business and Politics 17 (1): 75–96.Google Scholar
Karhunen, Paivi, and Ledyaev, Svetlana. 2011. “Regional Variation in Democracy and Corruption within a Large Transition Country and Location Decisions of Foreign Investors of Different Country-of-origin: The Case of Russia.” Helsinki Center of Economic Research Discussion Paper No. 318.Google Scholar
Kollman, Ken. 1998. Outside Lobbying: Public Opinion and Interest Group Strategies. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Laakso, Markku, and Taagepera, Rein. 1979. “Effective Number of Parties: A Measure with Application to West Europe.” Comparative Political Studies 12 (1): 3–27.Google Scholar
Leoni, Eduardo. 2009. “Analyzing Multiple Surveys: Results from Monte Carlo Experiments.” Mimeo.Google Scholar
Libman, Alexander. 2013. “Natural Resources and Sub-National Economic Performance: Does Sub-National Democracy Matter?” Energy Economics 37: 82–99.Google Scholar
Magaloni, Beatrice. 2006. Voting for Autocracy: Hegemonic Party Survival and its Demise in Mexico. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Magaloni, Beatrice. 2008. “Credible Power-Sharing and the Longevity of Authoritarian Rule.” Comparative Political Studies 41 (4–5): 715–741.Google Scholar
Makhortov, Evgeny. 2008. Lobbism TsFO: Analiz, Monitoring, Informatsia. Special Issue of Lobbying.ru.Google Scholar
Marques, Israel II. 2015. Political Institutions and Preferences for Social Policy in the Post-communist World. Dissertation. New York: Columbia University.Google Scholar
McMann, Kelly, and Petrov, Nikolai. 2000. “A Survey of Democracy in Russia's Regions.” Post-Soviet Geography and Economics 41 (3): 155–182.Google Scholar
Mironov, Maxim and Zhuravskaya, Ekaterina. 2016. “Corruption in Procurement and the Political Cycle in Tunneling: Evidence from Financial Transactions Data.” American Economic Journal: Economic policy 8 (2): 287–321.Google Scholar
Obydenkova, Anastassia, and Libman, Alexander. 2012. “The Impact of External Factors on Regime Transition: Lessons from the Russian Regions.” Post-Soviet Affairs 28 (3): 346–401.Google Scholar
Olson, Mancur. 1982. The Rise and Decline of Nations. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Pyle, William. 2006. Collective Action and Post-Communist Enterprise: The Economic Logic of Russia's Business Associations. Europe-Asia Studies 58 (4): 491–521.Google Scholar
Pyle, William. 2011. “Organized Business, Political Competition and Property Rights: Evidence from the Russian Federation.” Journal of Law, Economics and Organization 27 (1): 2–31.Google Scholar
Pyle, William, and Solanko, Laura. 2013. “The Composition and Interests of Russia's Business Lobbies: Testing Olson's Hypothesis of the ‘Encompassing Organization.’” Public Choice 155 (1–2): 19–41.Google Scholar
Thomas, Remington. 2008. “Patronage and the Party of Power: President-Parliament Relations under Vladimir Putin.” Europe-Asia Studies 60 (6): 959–987.Google Scholar
Reuter, Ora John. 2010. “The Politics of Dominant Party Formation: United Russia and Russia's Governors.” Europe-Asia Studies 62 (2): 293–327.Google Scholar
Reuter, Ora John. 2013. “Regional Patrons and Hegemonic Party Electoral Performance in Russia.” Post-Soviet Affairs 29 (2): 101–135.Google Scholar
Reuter, Ora John, and Gandhi, Jennifer. 2011. “Economic Performance and Elite Defection from Hegemonic Parties.” British Journal of Political Science 41 (1): 83–110.Google Scholar
Reuter, Ora John, and Remington, Thomas. 2009. “Dominant Party Regimes and the Commitment Problem: The Case of United Russia.” Comparative Political Studies 42 (4): 501–526.Google Scholar
Reuter, Ora John, and Robertson, Graeme. 2012. “Sub-national Appointments in Authoritarian Regimes: Evidence from Russian Gubernatorial Appointments.” Journal of Politics 74 (4): 1023–1037.Google Scholar
Reuter, Ora John, and Robertson, Graeme. 2015. “Legislatures, Cooptation, and Social Protest in Contemporary Authoritarian Regimes.” Journal of Politics. 77 (1): 235–248.Google Scholar
Reuter, Ora John, and Turovsky, Rostislav. 2014. “Dominant Party Rule and Legislative Leadership in Authoritarian Regimes.” Party Politics 20 (5): 663–674.Google Scholar
Robertson, Graeme. 2010. The Politics of Protest in Hybrid Regimes: Managing Dissent in Post-Communist Russia. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Rosser, J. Barkley Jr. 2007. “The Rise and Decline of Mancur Olson's View of the Rise and Decline of Nations.” Southern Economic Journal 74 (1): 4–17.Google Scholar
Slinko, Irina, Yakovlev, Evgeny, and Zhuravskaya, Ekaterina. 2005. “Laws for Sale: Evidence from Russia.” American Law and Economics Review 7 (1): 284–318.Google Scholar
Smith, Mark. 2010. American Business and Political Power: Public Opinions, Elections and Democracy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Smyth, Regina, Lowry, Anna, and Wilkening, Brandon. 2007. “Engineering Victory: Institutional Reform, Informal Institutions, and the Formation of a Hegemonic Party Regime in the Russian Federation.” Post-Soviet Affairs 23 (2): 118–137.Google Scholar
Sokhey, Sarah. 2010. The Politics of Post-Communist Pension Reform: The Influence of Business Lobbying on Policy Outcomes. Dissertation. The Ohio State University.Google Scholar
Steenbergen, Marco, and Jones, Bradford. 2002. “Modeling Multilevel Data Structures.” American Journal of Political Science 46 (1): 218–237.Google Scholar
Szakonyi, David. 2016. Elected Public Office and Private Benefit: Firm-Level Returns from Businesspeople Becoming Politicians in Russia. Mimeo. Retrieved on 16 October, 2015. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2844901.Google Scholar
Treisman, Daniel. 1999. After the Deluge: Regional Crises and Political Consolidation in Russia. Ann Arbor: Michigan University Press.Google Scholar
Treier, Shawn, and Jackman, Simon. 2008. “Democracy as a Latent Variable.” American Journal of Political Science 52 (1): 201–217.Google Scholar
Pavel, Tolstykh. 2008. Otraslevoye Lobbirovanie v Rossii (Naibolee Aktualniye Ekonomicheskie Zakonoproekty na Nachalo Raboty Gosudarstvennoi Dumy FS RF V Sozyva). Special issue of Lobbying.ru.Google Scholar
Tucker, Joshua. 2007. “Enough! Electoral Fraud, Collective Action Problems, and Post-Communist Colored Revolutions”. Perspectives on Politics 3: 535–551.Google Scholar
Walker, Edward, and Rea, Christopher. 2014. “The Political Mobilization of Firms and Industries.” Annual Review of Sociology 40: 281–304.Google Scholar
Weymouth, Stephen. 2013. “Firm Lobbying and Influence in Developing Countries: A Multilevel Approach.” Business and Politics 14 (4): 1–26.Google Scholar
Yakovlev, Andrei, and Govorun, Andrei. 2011. “Business Associations as a Business-Government Liaison: An Empirical Analysis.” Journal of the New Economic Association 9: 98–127.Google Scholar