The Oxford Handbook of Business and Government

Business is one of the major power centres in modern society. The state seeks to check and channel that power so as to serve broader public policy objectives. However, if the way in which business is governed is ineffective or over burdensome, it may become more difficult to achieve desired goals such as economic growth or higher levels of employment. In a period of international economic crisis, the study of how business and government relate to each other in different countries is of more central importance than ever. These relationships have been studied from a number of different disciplinary perspectives - business studies, economics, economic history, law, and political science - and all of these are represented in this handbook. The first part of the book provides an introduction to the ways in which five different disciplines have approached the study of business and government. The second section, on the firm and the state, looks at how these entities interact in different settings, emphasising such phenomena as the global firm and varieties of capitalism. The third section examines how business interacts with government in different parts of the world, including the United States, the EU, China, Japan and South America. The fourth section reviews changing patterns of market governance through a unifying theme of the role of regulation. Business-government relations can play out in divergent ways in different policy and the fifth section examines the contrasts between different key arenas such as competition policy, trade policy, training policy and environmental policy. The volume provides an authoritative overview with chapters by leading authorities on the current state of knowledge of business-government relations, but also points to ways in which this work might be developed in the future, e.g., through a political theory of the firm. Contributors to this volume - Tim Buthe, Assistant Professor, the Department of Political Science, and Associate Director of the Center for European Studies, Duke University Pamela Camerra-Rowe, Associate Professor of Political Science, the Department of Politics, Kenyon College Martin Chick, Reader in Economic and Social History, the School of History, Classics, and Archaeology, Edinburgh University David Coen, Professor of Public Policy, the Department of Political Science, School of Public Policy, University College London Colin Crouch. Professor of Governance and Public Management, the Warwick Business School, University of Warwick Pepper D. Culpepper, Associate Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University Michelle Egan, Associate Professor and Director of the European Studies Program, the School of International Service, the American University in Washington Francis J. Greene, Associate Professor of Enterprise, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick Carsten Greve, Professor, the International Center for Business and Politics, the Copenhagen Business School Jean-Pascal Gond, Lecturer in Corporate Social Responsibility, Nottingham University Business School, Nottingham University Wyn Grant, Professor of Politics, the Department of Politics and International Studies, the University of Warwick Yukihiko Hamada, research and media officer, the Japan Embassy in London, and Post Doctoral Fellow, University College London Bob Hancke, Reader in European Political Economy, the London School of Economics. David M. Hart, Associate Professor of Public Policy, School of Public Policy, George Mason University, Arlington Jason Heyes, Reader in Human Resource Management, Birmingham Business School, Birmingham University Torben Iversen, Professor of Political Science, the Department of Government, Harvard University Nahee Kang, ESRC Post-Doctoral Fellow, Nottingham University Business School, Nottingham University Thomas Lawton, Professor of Strategic and International Business, EMLYON Business School Christopher S.P. Magee, Associate Professor at the Department of Economics, Bucknell University Stephen P. Magee, the Bayless/Enstar Chair and Professor of Finance and Economics, the Department of Finance, University of Texas, Austin Cathie Jo Martin, Professor of Political Science, the Department of Political Science, Boston University Walter Mattli, Professor of International Political Economy and Official Fellow, St John's College, the University of Oxford Jill J. McCluskey, Professor and Chair of Graduate Studies, the School of Economic Sciences, Washington State University Jeremy Moon, Professor of Corporate Social Responsibility and Director of the International Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility, Nottingham University Business School Michael Moran, the WJM Mackenzie Professor of Government, the Department of Politics, Manchester University Christos N. Pitelis, Reader in International Business and Competitiveness, Judge Business School and Fellow in Economy, Queens' College, University of Cambridge Helen Rainbird, Professor of Human Resource Management, Birmingham Business School, Birmingham University Philippe Schmitter, Emeritus Professor of Political Science, the Department of Social and Political Science, the European University Institute Ben Ross Schneider, Professor of Political Science, the Department of Political Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Gregory C. Shaffer, Melvin C. Steen Professor of Law, University of Minnesota Law School Timothy J. Sinclair, Associate Professor of International Relations, the Department of Politics and International Studies, the University of Warwick David Soskice, Research Professor in the Department of Political Science, Duke University David J. Storey, Professor of Enterprise and Director of the Centre for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise, the Warwick Business School, University of Warwick Jonathan Story, Emeritus Professor of International Political Economy at INSEAD, France, and Marusi Chair of Global Business and Political Economy, Lally School of Management & Technology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY Johan F. M. Swinnen, Professor, the Department of Economics and Director of LICOS Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance, the Catholic University of Leuven Gunnar Trumbull, Associate Professor, the Harvard Business School, Harvard University David Vogel, the Solomon P. Lee Distinguished Professor of Business Ethics, the Haas Business School, the University of California Berkeley Timothy Werner, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Grinnell College Stephen Wilks, Professor of Politics, the University of Exeter Graham Wilson, Professor of Political Science, the Department of Political Science, Boston University