ABSTRACT
In this chapter the author discusses efforts to explain business mobilization mainly in terms of the direct effects of economic shifts, notably changes in profits. He presents a political account of business mobilization. The author argues that the most important aspects of business political efforts that took place in the 1970s and still take place in the 1990s. To explain the preceding narrative of business mobilization, two accounts can be given. For the first, business political mobilization expressed a straightforward effort to achieve already given business interests. In the second, political processes among business elites were crucial to overcome collective action problems and provide a concrete definition of interests to guide strategic choices. The moderate antistatist view was widely disseminated among business elites and the public through business organizations, research and public policy institutes, and direct public appeals in advertising and political action.
