Businesses are increasingly understood not only as economic actors and subjects of public regulation but also as political actors. They seek to influence public policy, participate in public and private forms of governance, establish standards and rules, and respond to political and societal pressures. At the same time, businesses themselves can become arenas in which political values and interests are expressed and contested.
This panel invites papers examining the political role of business across a wide range of contexts. Contributions may address corporate political activity, private regulation and governance, sustainability and ESG, relations between business and government, or the political dynamics that emerge within and around firms.
The panel welcomes a range of theoretical perspectives, methods, regions, and levels of analysis. Of particular interest are papers that examine how businesses and private governance organizations acquire, exercise, adapt, or lose political authority in changing political environments.
