Publications
Publications
- March 2024
- Policy Sciences
How Foes Become Allies: The Shifting Role of Business in Climate Politics
By: Irja Vormedal and Jonas Meckling
Abstract
Firms often oppose costly public policy reforms—but under what conditions may they
come to support such reforms? Previous scholarship has taken a predominantly static
approach to the analysis of business positions. Here, we advance a dynamic theory of
change in business policy positions that explains how business may shift from opposing to
supporting new regulation over the course of multiple rounds of policymaking. We identify
three sets of drivers and causal mechanisms behind business repositioning related to political, policy, and market change. We argue that political mechanisms can shift opposition to
“strategic support” for reform, whereas policy and market mechanisms may shift opposition or strategic support toward “sincere support.” We examine the reconfguration of business interests and policy positions in the context of three decades of US climate politics,
focusing on the oil and gas, electricity, and auto sectors. Our dynamic theory of business
positions moves beyond the dualism that views business as either opposing or supporting public interest regulation. We thus advance our understanding of why initial business
opposition can incrementally turn into strategic or sincere support for policy reform.
Keywords
Citation
Vormedal, Irja, and Jonas Meckling. "How Foes Become Allies: The Shifting Role of Business in Climate Politics." Policy Sciences 57, no. 1 (March 2024): 101–124.