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More equal than others: Assessing economic and citizen groups’ access across policymaking venues

Article

Article de Florian Weiler,  Steven Eichenberger, André Mach et Frédéric Varone dans la revue Governance.

Abstract

This study assesses whether economic interest groups (business associations and trade unions) enjoy better access to the policymaking process than citizen groups. It compares the interest group population in Switzerland with those sets of groups present in the administrative and legislative venues. The study devises an aggregate measure of access to policymaking as a whole, which weights access according to different venues’ importance. It theorizes the granting of access as a sequential process. Policymakers first decide whether to grant any access at all (selection stage) and then decide on the amount of access (allocation stage). Empirical evidence shows that policymakers do not discriminate between economic and citizen groups at the selection stage, but that they subsequently grant more access to economic groups. These findings qualify existing research, which interprets economic groups’ superior access as the resilience of neo?corporatism, while also questioning the pluralizing effect of multiple policymaking venues.

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The Internationalisation of Economics and Business Studies: Import of Excellence, Cosmopolitan Capital, or American Dominance?

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Article de Felix Bühlmann et Thierry Rossier dans la revue Historical Social Research / Historische Sozialforschung.

Abstract

In recent times internationality has become an indicator for scientific excellence arguing that it will create talent, diversity, and inspiration. But what does “internationality” really stand for in science? In order to answer this question we study two of the most hierarchized and internationalised disciplines – economics and business studies – in one of the most internationalised academic labour markets – Switzerland. Based on a historical database of 411 (full and associate) university professors of economics and business studies at three benchmarks (1957, 1980, and 2000), we investigate the evolution of internationality during the second part of the 20th century, and its link to scientific prestige and recognition. For both disciplines we find an increase in foreign professors and internationalisation of Swiss professors due to doctorial and postdoctoral phases spent in the US and other shorter stays abroad. This development can first be observed in economics, but business studies have managed to “catch up.” Using three negative binomial regression models we show that Switzerland imports excellence among professors and that high scientific prestige is linked to stays abroad, especially in the dominant US fields of economics and business studies.

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La trasformazione delle élite svizzere

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Article de Felix Bühlmann,  Marion Beetschen, Thomas David, Stéphanie Ginalski, André Mach et Andrea Pilotti dans la revue Dati de l’Office de la statistique du Canton du Tessin.

 

Abstract

Il forte intreccio delle élite in Svizzera, a lungo considerato un modello di coordinamento efficace e consensuale, è oggetto di critiche sempre più aspre negli ultimi anni. In realtà, la situazione sembra cambiare e anche coloro che conoscono il sistema ritengono che i processi decisionali politici stiano diventando imprevedibili. In questo articolo, basandoci su un’importante banca dati storica delle élite economiche, politiche e amministrative in Svizzera, mostriamo che le trasformazioni in corso derivano dalla finanziarizzazione dell’economia: l’internazionalizzazione dei dirigenti delle maggiori imprese e la fine del ricorso ai crediti per finanziare l’industria portano alla dissoluzione del coordinamento delle élite prevalente nella Svizzera del XX secolo. L’attuale processo di differenziazione delle élite politiche ed economiche ci porta a interrogarci sulle modalità di concertazione e di coordinamento adottate in futuro dalle nuove élite.

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Récension de l’article du professeur Angelo Rossi dans l’hebdomadaire Azione de Migros Ticino à lire ici.

Elites in Switzerland. The rise and fall of a model of elite coordination

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Article de Felix Bühlmann,  Marion Beetschen, Thomas David, Stéphanie Ginalski et André Mach dans la revue brésilienne Tempo social. 

Abstract

The aim of this article is to understand the recent transformations of Swiss elites. Based on a database of political, economic and administrative elites covering the whole twentieth century, we investigate the social background, education and coordination mechanisms of Swiss elites. We find that for a long time, they maintained their power through a combination of a socially narrow recruitment and a coordination model including the army as meeting place, a corporatist organisation of the economy and multipositionality between political and economic fields. As a result of the increasing internationalisation of managers of Swiss firms, this model of elite coordination has eroded since the 1990s and led to a (relatively) unpredictable transition phase.

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Mapping the Power of Law Professors: The Role of Scientific and Social Capital

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Article de Felix Bühlmann, Pierre Benz,  André Mach et Thierry Rossier dans la revue Minerva.

Abstract

As a scientific discipline and profession, law has been for centuries at the heart of social and political power of many Western societies. Professors of law, as influential representatives of the profession, are important powerbrokers between academia, politics and the corporate world. Their influence is based on scientific reputation, institutional mandates inside and outside academia or privileged network connections with people in powerful positions. In this study, based on a full sample of all Swiss law professors in the years 1957, 1980 and 2000 (n = 311), we contrast two theories of the distribution of power among law professors: Bourdieu’s thesis on the trade-off between scientific reputation and (extra)-academic institutional power vs. the thesis of an opposition between a group of established incumbents and socio-demographically marginal challengers who try to gain access to the profession. We show that among Swiss law professors the endowment with scientific capital is not opposed to the possession of institutional power within (or outside) academia. Our findings reveal rather an opposition between a challenging group of professors devoid of resources and an incumbent fraction with a high amount of scientific, institutional and social capital alike. In the conclusion we discuss a series of explanations of this specific power structure, including the specific status scientific reputation and social capital can have for law professors.

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European top management careers: a field-analytical approach

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Article de Felix Bühlmann, Eric Davoine et Claudio Ravasi dans la revue European Societies.

Abstract

Research on European business elites has been dominated by a ‘national career model’ approach, arguing that each country has a specific top management career pattern. In recent years, this line of argument has been challenged due to the increasing international circulation of top managers. To examine the impact of internationalisation on career models, we will draw on a database of 916 top managers in Germany, Switzerland, France and Britain. Our field-analytical analysis reveals that the most important career distinction – between internal and external careers – is valid beyond national models. In addition, international managers do not constitute a separate homogenous group: in some countries, they imitate national career patterns; in others, they pursue complementary strategies.

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The Rise of Professors of Economics and Business Studies in Switzerland: Between Scientific Reputation and Political Power

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Article de Thierry Rossier, Felix Bühlmann et André Mach dans  European Journal of Sociology (Archives Européennes de Sociologie).

Abstract

Cet article étudie l’affirmation des professeurs d’économie politique et de gestion d’entreprise durant la seconde moitié du xx e siècle en Suisse. Il se centre sur trois types de ressources de pouvoir : positions dans la hiérarchie universitaire, réputation scientifique et positions extra-académiques dans les sphères économique et politique. A partir de données biographiques au sujet de N = 487 professeurs, il examine comment ces ressources se sont développées entre 1957 et 2000. Nos résultats montrent que les professeurs de sciences économiques ont de plus en plus de succès dans les trois dimensions étudiées – spécialement si on les compare à d’autres disciplines comme le droit ou les sciences humaines et sociales. Cette évolution semble infirmer la soi-disant incompatibilité entre le pôle scientifique et le pôle mondain du champ académique : en effet les professeurs d’économie et de gestion augmentent leur réputation scientifique tout en occupant de plus en plus de positions exécutives au sein et en dehors de l’académie. Cependant, si l’on se penche sur la dotation individuelle en capital, nous voyons que ce sont rarement les mêmes professeurs qui détiennent de manière simultanée un volume important de capital scientifique et institutionnel.

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Formal ties between interest groups and members of parliament: Gaining allies in legislative committees

Article

Article de Steven Eichenberger et André Mach dans la revue Interest Groups & Advocacy.

Abstract

While previous research on interest groups’ (IGs) relations to MPs has mainly focused on informal lobbying strategies or interorganizational linkages, the analysis of formal ties between MPs and IGs has remained neglected. Such formal ties can be conceptualized as an exchange relationship between individual MPs and IGs. The latter benefit from access to parliament while the former benefit from the expertise and support provided by IGs. We investigate whether committee members’ formal ties to IGs reflect committees’ responsibilities. Our results show that there is a strong topical match between committee members’ ties to IGs and committees’ area of competence. However, this congruence is less due to the background of MPs than to the ties developed after committee assignment. Formal ties are, to a large extent, the consequence of IGs recruiting MPs who can give them access to relevant committees. Empirical evidence comes from Swiss MPs’ ties to IGs between 2000 and 2015.

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La nouvelle configuration du réseau des élites économiques suisses en 2015, entre persistance et déclin

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Par Stéphanie Ginalski, Université de Lausanne

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Légende : Réseau (1-mode) des 110 plus grandes entreprises suisses en 2015. Chaque lien représente un administrateur commun entre deux firmes, l’épaisseur de lien variant en fonction du nombre de membres communs. La taille des entreprises varie quant à elle en fonction du nombre de liens avec les autres firmes du réseau. Les couleurs représentent les différents secteurs économiques.

Pendant la majeure partie du 20e siècle, les élites économiques suisses ont fait preuve d’un haut degré d’organisation collective ainsi que d’une forte mobilisation sur le plan politique. Loin de l’image de l’entrepreneur individualiste, largement valorisée dans le discours officiel libéral, les dirigeants d’entreprises se sont organisés grâce aux organisations patronales, mais également par le biais de structures moins formalisées et moins visibles, comme les ententes cartellaires ou les réseaux interfirmes, créés par les administrateurs siégeant simultanément dans plusieurs conseils d’administration. Cette forte mobilisation collective est cependant remise en question dès les années 1990, dans le contexte de la financiarisation et de la mondialisation accrue de l’économie, et de la mise en place d’un système plus axé sur la concurrence. On observe ainsi un déclin brusque et rapide des liens d’interconnexions entre les 110 plus grandes firmes suisses entre 1990 et 2010. [1]

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Interests groups in Parliament: Exploring MPs’ interest affiliations (2000-2011)

Article

Note de recherche publiée par les membres de l’OBELIS Steven Eichenberger et André Mach, ainsi que par le membre associé Frédéric Varone et d’autres collègues dans la Swiss Political Science Review.

Abstract

This research note presents an innovative dataset of Swiss MPs’ interest ties between 2000-2011. The longitudinal analysis shows that the average number of interest ties per MP has more than doubled: from 3.5 in 2000 to 7.6 in 2011. Since the mid-2000s, public interest groups have accounted for approximately one out of two ties between MPs and interest groups, showing the strongest increase during the period. However, when looking at the most present individual groups, important business groups dominate and appear well connected with the governmental parties of the political right. Finally, interest groups are also able to forge themselves a strategic presence within the parliamentary committees that are the most relevant for their policy issues. Next research steps include the assessment of the (un)biased access of interest groups to the parliamentary venue and their policy influence.

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